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WORLD NEWSThursday 22 March 2018
Iraq holding more than 19,000 because of IS, militant ties
By QASSIM ZAHRA In this Oct. 3, 2017 photo, displaced men from Hawija stand facing a wall in order not to see se- group, according to an
SUSANNAH GEORGE curity officers, who will try to determine if they were associated with the Islamic State group, at a intelligence figure in Bagh-
Associated Press Kurdish screening center in Dibis, Iraq. dad.
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq has In addition, another 11,000
detained or imprisoned (AP Photo/Bram Janssen) people currently are be-
at least 19,000 people ac- ing detained by the intel-
cused of connections to are believed to be held in exact figures could not be convicted of terrorism- ligence branch of the In-
the Islamic State group detention by other bod- immediately obtained. related charges since the terior Ministry, undergoing
or other terror-related of- ies, including the Federal The AP determined that beginning of 2013 — arrests interrogation or awaiting
fenses, and sentenced Police, military intelligence 8,861 of the prisoners listed overwhelmingly likely to be trial, a second intelligence
more than 3,000 of them and Kurdish forces. Those in the spreadsheet were linked to the Islamic State official said. Both intelli-
to death, according to an gence officials spoke on
analysis by The Associated condition of anonymity
Press. because they were not au-
The mass incarceration thorized to brief the press.
and speed of guilty ver- "There's been great over-
dicts raise concerns over crowding ... Iraq needs a
potential miscarriages of large number of investiga-
justice — and worries that tors and judges to resolve
jailed militants are recruit- this issue," Fadhel al-Ghar-
ing within the general pris- wari, a member of Iraqi's
on population to build new parliament-appointed hu-
extremist networks. man rights commission, told
The AP count is based the AP.
partially on an analysis of Al-Gharwari said many
a spreadsheet listing all legal proceedings have
27,849 people imprisoned been delayed because
in Iraq as of late January, the country lacks the re-
provided by an official who sources to respond to the
requested anonymity be- spike in incarcerations.
cause he was not autho- Large numbers of Iraqis
rized to speak to the me- were detained during the
dia. Thousands more also 2000s, when the U.S. and
Iraqi governments were
Syrian rebels to evacuate opposition-held Ghouta battling Sunni militants, in-
cluding al-Qaida, and Shi-
By PHILIP ISSA deal involves the departure is the smallest of the rebel sia, a military backer of ite militias. In 2007, at the
SARAH EL DEEB starting Thursday morning groups that control eastern President Bashar Assad, height of the fighting, the
Associated Press of opposition fighters from Ghouta. was the guarantor of the U.S. military held 25,000 de-
BEIRUT (AP) — Hundreds of his group to northern Syria. It is the first such deal in- deal. tainees. The spreadsheet
armed rebels and civilians He said the deal negoti- volving the evacuation of In other parts of Syria, gov- obtained by the AP showed
will begin evacuating a be- ated with the government opposition fighters from ernment forces have also that about 6,000 people
sieged town in eastern Gh- gives security guarantees eastern Ghouta, which pressed the rebels to enter arrested on terror charges
outa, a rebel spokesman for those who decide to has been under a fero- into local cease-fire agree- before 2013 still are serving
and Syrian government stay in the town after the cious government air and ments under which the those sentences.
media reported Wednes- government takes over. ground assault for a month. militants and their families But the current wave of
day, in the first instance of The Syria-controlled Military Fares said rebels have would relocate to other detentions has hit the Iraqi
fighters leaving the opposi- Media Center said 1,500 agreed to leave because parts of the country. The justice system much harder
tion stronghold east of the armed rebels and 6,000 ci- of "civilian pressure" result- Syrian opposition has criti- because past arrests were
capital following a deal vilians will evacuate Haras- ing from intensive airstrikes cized such agreements, spread out over a much
reached with the govern- ta on Thursday to the north- and "warplanes that do not saying they reward the longer period and the larg-
ment. ern province of Idlib as leave the sky," adding that government's siege tactics est numbers of detainees
Monther Fares, a spokes- part of a negotiated deal. residents of Harasta have and legitimize the forced were held by the American
man for the powerful Ah- The Ahrar al-Sham group, spent the last three months displacement of civilians military, with only a portion
rar al-Sham group, said the headquartered in Harasta, inside shelters. He said Rus- from their homes.q sent to Iraqi courts and the
rest released.q
