Iraq's judiciary resolves over 1,500 cases of returnees from Syria's al-Hol
On Saturday, Iraqi National Security Advisor Qassem al-Araji also called for the closing of the notorious camp.
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraq's judiciary has resolved more than 1,500 cases of individuals who have recently returned from the notorious al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria, a security expert confirmed on Tuesday.
In late March, Iraq's National Security Advisory announced that it has reintegrated 450 families in their places of origin across Iraq after they were rehabilitated at the Al-Jad'ah camp's psychiatric center in the Nineveh province town of Qayyarah.
The judiciary has resolved the cases of more than 1,500 individuals of the returned families, who are estimated to number over 1,700 people in total, security expert Fadhel Abu Ragheef told Iraqi News Agency (INA) on Monday.
Having warned about the security risks the camp poses on multiple occasions, the United Nations supports the idea of closing the compound, according to Abu Ragheef. He said that Iraq's Al-Jad'ah Camp could undertake the rehabilitation process of the returnees, which experts warn have been exposed to extremist ideologies in al-Hol.
On Saturday, Iraqi National Security Advisor Qassem al-Araji also called for the closing of the notorious camp.
"Each day that passes with the camp still there, hate grows and terrorism thrives," he said, adding that ISIS "continues to represent a real threat at al-Hol."
Located in Syria's northeastern province of Hasakah, the camp houses an estimated 58,000 residents – mainly Syrians and Iraqis, and other nationalities that are believed to have had close affiliations with ISIS. ISIS's self-styled caliphate was completely destroyed by March 2019, when Syrian Democratic Forces captured the eastern town of Baghouz in eastern Syria with support from the US-led coalition.
The head of the UN's mission to Iraq previously described the situation at the camp as a "ticking bomb", referring to the violent, extremist ideologies the children there are exposed to.
More than 90 Iraqis and Syrians residing in the camp have been killed over the past year, including women and children. An Iraqi refugee was shot dead there by an unidentified assailant on Sunday.