Iraq sends 82 Children with ISIS affiliation back to Azerbaijan

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Iraqi government announced on Wednesday that it had returned 82 children to Azerbaijan who belong to members of the Islamic State.

“Iraq’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs took part in the deportation of 82 children to the Republic of Azerbaijan who were imprisoned with their mothers in Iraq,” Ahmed Al-Sahaf, a spokesperson for Iraq’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said, adding that their mothers are “sentenced to prison by the Iraqi judiciary for being members of the terrorist group ISIS."

Sahaf also mentioned that Iraq had repatriated 828 children from various nationalities with parents affiliated to the Islamic State to their home countries.

Other nations like Kazakhstan, Russia, and Sweden have also repatriated children who belong to Islamic State families.

Iraq’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs previously called on all countries that have nationals affiliated with the Islamic State, including children who are held in facilities for minors whose sentences have been served, to coordinate with Iraq through diplomatic channels to repatriate them.

Following the emergence of the terror group in Syria and Iraq in 2014, thousands of foreign nationals flocked to areas under their control to join the Islamic State. Often accompanying them were women either from their own countries or elsewhere.

So far, European states have been reluctant to bring back Islamic State fighters or women accused of membership in the extremist group and their children who are stuck in Iraq and Syria.

Many EU countries fear that due to the lack of evidence, Islamic State supporters could be quickly released once they appear in court after returning home.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany