Security

Iraqi security forces arrest 70 Syrian Kurdish refugees

According to the families of the detained refugees, they were arrested on the pretext of violating the residency system.

Wladimir van Wilgenburg 2023/07/18 08:16

The families of Syrian Kurds arrested by Baghdad fear they will be handed over to Damascus (Photo: Lava Ased/Kurdistan 24).

Iraq Syria Iraq

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraqi security forces have arrested 70 Syrian Kurdish refugees in Baghdad and Mosul. They now fear they will be handed over to Damascus after three Syrian Kurds were handed over to Syria last Saturday.

According to the families of the detained refugees, they were arrested on the pretext of violating the residency system. Relatives assert that despite their prison sentences expiring after five months, they are still being held.

Moreover, on Saturday three Kurds from Syria were handed over to the Syrian government after a decision by a judge in Baghdad.

The New Arab reported that they were transferred to Syrian intelligence from Baghdad International Airport on a flight to Damascus International Airport.

The mothers of the detainees have called on the Kurdish government and Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) President Masoud Barzani to save their children.

The head of the Cane Roj organization, Rashid Ali Can, who follows the case of the detained refugees, told Kurdistan 24’s Lava Ased that the forced return of refugees is a violation of international law, especially if the detained people have residency cards in the Kurdistan Region.

He underlined it is illegal to deport Syrian Kurdish refugees when they have UN immigration paperwork from Erbil. Despite this, Baghdad does not recognize those forms from the Kurdistan Region. “It is against international law to return a citizen to his country, when there is war and conflict."

On Sunday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hosted Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani for talks in Damascus, where Sudani also discussed refugee issues.

Due to Syria’s civil war, thousands of Syrian Kurds have fled to the Kurdistan Region since 2011. A large number of them live in camps in the Kurdistan Region.

According to the latest data of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Joint Crisis Coordination Center (JCC), the Kurdistan Region hosts 246,810 Syrians.

JCC data also shows that the majority of IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) and refugees live with the host communities in the Kurdistan Region. While only 30% live in camps, 70% live outside of IDP camps.

Additional reporting by Lava Ased.