There are currently over 2700 ISIS members in prisons in Rojava Kurdistan captured by YPG special units in operations throughout Northern Syria. Over 800 of these prisoners are citizens of 46 states, most of which are western countries. The Rojava administration has been calling for the countries, especially the US, France and Germany, to get involved and take on the responsibility of putting the ISIS members on trial.

PYD Foreign Relations Officer Salih Muslim spoke to a prominent Australian newspaper and repeated the call, stating that the foreign ISIS members should be taken back by the countries they are citizens of and put on trial. Moslem also said they are privy to claims that the imprisoned ISIS members will attempt to escape during another Turkish state attack against Northern Syria, and continued:

“The foreign ISIS members we are holding in prisons have come from all around the world to viciously attack the lands of Kurds. We have paid a great price in the fight against these gangs, and we have captured some of them alive. These people should be taken back by their countries and put on trial.”

“UN MUST TAKE ACTION FOR IMPRISONED ISIS MEMBERS”

According to information Muslim gave, only Indonesia, Russia, Morocco and Sudan have appealed for the extradition of ISIS members held in prisons in Rojava Kurdistan. There are no European Union member states among these countries, as can be seen. PYD Foreign Relations Officer Salih Muslim demanded that the United Nations take action.

The YPG Press Center announced recently that 8 foreign national ISIS members (citizens of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Russia, the US and Germany) have been captured in and around Hajin town in Deir ez-Zor as part of the Operation Cizire Storm.

The YPG capturing a German citizen ISIS member had been covered widely on German media. The ISIS member Lucas Glaß has been under investigation by German security units for “membership to a foreign terrorist organization” since 2016. There are 14 more German citizens on top of Lucas Glaß who are under investigation by the federal chief public prosecutor’s office in their country.

But Germany stands out as not having submitted an extradition appeal despite the investigations. There have been calls issued to the Merkel-led federal German government for the gang members. The Berlin administration has only announced that they are working on options to bring their citizens back to Germany.