Countries need to bring home ISIS foreign nationals in northeast Syria: HRW
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Foreign countries should bring ISIS nationals home following the defeat of an ISIS attack against the Sina’a prison in Hasakah city, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement on Wednesday.
The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced on Wednesday that it had retaken full control of the prison following an ISIS attack that began on Jan. 20.
Read More: SDF retakes full control of al-Hasakah prison after forcing surrender of ISIS suspects
The prison held about 3,500 men and boys with alleged ISIS affiliation. “They included up to 2,000 foreigners from dozens of countries, most rounded up during the final major military operations against ISIS in northeast Syria in February and March 2019. About 700 of the prisoners were boys, some as young as 12,” HRW said.
“Recapturing the prison does not resolve the indefinite detention without due process of nearly 45,000 foreign ISIS suspects and family members, most of them young children, in deeply degrading, often inhumane, and life-threatening conditions in prisons and locked camps in northeast Syria,” Letta Tayler, associate crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
“The ISIS assault should be a wakeup call to home countries that it is long past time for them to bring their nationals home for reintegration and rehabilitation and, as appropriate, investigation and prosecution,” she added.
“Holding men, women, and children in these conditions is unconscionable, unlawful, and denies victims justice for ISIS crimes.”
Several Western countries have been reluctant to repatriate their citizens due to security risks and domestic opposition, despite repeated calls by the SDF and the US-led coalition to do so.
Tayler also added that after the prison’s liberation, the “US-led coalition and others involved need to quickly ensure that all prisoners, especially the wounded, ill, and children, are safe and receive food, water, and medical care.”