The Kurdish-led authority in northeast Syria announced Saturday that hundreds of militants with ISIS held in prisons around the region will be put on trial after their home countries refused to repatriate them.
The statement by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria said it still calls for the creation of an international tribunal to put those fighters on trial. It called on the United Nations, international rights groups and local organizations to help facilitate the trials.
The US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, is holding over 10,000 captured ISIS militants in around two dozen detention facilities — including 2,000 foreigners whose home countries have refused to repatriate them. The statement said the fighters from about 60 nationalities had entered Syria years ago and were captured in battles against the extremists.
“The terrorist organization carried out horrific crimes and mass massacres against people in the region,” it said, adding that such acts are considered crimes against humanity and war crimes. It said the trials will be “fair and transparent in accordance with international and local laws related to terrorism.”
The SDF and the local Kurdish police force known as Asayesh also oversee some 51,000 family members of ISIS militants, mostly women and children in the al-Hol camp. Many of those family members remain die-hard ISIS supporters, and killings by militants have taken place in the camp over the years.
The Kurdish-led authority did not say where exactly the trials will be held or when they will start. They are believed to take place in areas controlled by the SDF in northeast and eastern Syria.