Iraq urges EU to repatriate detained Islamic State nationals
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has called on European Union countries to take responsibility for their nationals detained in Iraq on Islamic State terrorism charges, as the country prepares to take in thousands more prisoners.
Iraq recently began hosting foreign Islamic State detainees, amid growing concerns about the security of detention centers in northeastern Syria, where the change in control and renewed fighting have raised fears of prison escapes and instability.
Two days ago, U.S. forces transferred the first batch of a planned total of nearly 7,000 Islamic State detainees from Syria to Iraq.
In a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, al-Sudani focused on the temporary transfer of foreign Islamic State detainees from prisons formerly run by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to detention centers in Iraq, his office said in a statement Friday.
Al-Sudani highlighted the responsibility of the international community – particularly EU member states – to repatriate detainees who are their nationals, ensure that they are prosecuted under their own legal systems and receive what he described as a “fair punishment”.
In 2025, the United States and its allies arrested more than 300 members of the Islamic State in Syria and killed around 20 others.
The Islamic State group controlled large parts of Iraq and Syria between 2014 and 2019. It was militarily defeated in Iraq in 2017 and declared defeated in Syria two years later.
However, the organization has not been completely eradicated and cells continue to carry out deadly attacks in both countries.
