The Iraqi authorities handed over four women and 27 children from families of the Daesh militants to Russia, a local television reported, on Thursday.
“Iraq has handed over four women and 27 children from those who were tricked to join the Daesh terrorist group,” al-Sumaria channel quoted Ahmed Mahjoub, spokesman of the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, as saying.
Mahjoub said, those transferred Daesh associates “have not been proven to be involved in terrorist operations against civilians or security forces,” adding that, “they will be prosecuted in Russia for illegally entering Iraq.”
Earlier, an Iraqi newspaper reported that, more than 1,500 women and children from families of Daesh are held by the Iraqi authorities, and the Iraqi government is coordinating with their countries to decide their fate.
“We are holding 500 wives of Daesh warriors, all foreigners, in addition to their children, bringing the number to more than 1,500,” the al-Mashriq newspaper quoted Mohammed al-Sudani, Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, as saying.
Sudani said that, his ministry made many contacts with the countries to which those detainees belong, to decide how to deal with the children, according to the newspaper.
For his part, Saad al-Hadithi, spokesman of Iraqi Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi’s media office, confirmed that all “foreign nationals who committed crimes and violations against the people of Iraq, whether directly or by supporting the terrorist militants, will be subject to Iraqi law.”
“This also applies to foreign women (of Daesh families), who committed such actions inside Iraqi territories.”
“The government will coordinate with the countries to which the detainees belong. If they are not proven to have committed crimes or killings or bombings in Iraq, they will be handed over to their countries,” Hadithi added.c
Source: NAM News Network