Iraqi authorities deported Finnish children with family ties to the Islamic State

Iraq has announced that it has deported hundreds of children, including ones with Finnish citizenship, who may have family links to the terrorist group Isis.

Iraq’s Foreign Ministry did not specify how many of the deported children were Finnish citizens, nor where they were located.

“The Foreign Ministry has participated in making 473 deportations of children of various nationalities, including: Russian, Tajik, Azerbaijani, German, French, Georgian, Belarusian, Finnish, Ukrainian and Turkish nationalities,” Iraq’s foreign ministry said in a press release issued Monday.

Finland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs told Yle that it has not received any information about the announcement, and that Iraq has not been in contact with them about the issue.

The Iraqi ministry’s press release encouraged the ministries of all the affected countries to repatriate their citizens – even if they may have family links to Isis combatants or have served prison sentences as minors.

Iraq’s foreign ministry said the country had deported 33 Russian children to Russia on 10 July.

It remained unclear early Tuesday afternoon whether the deported Finnish minors were linked to the Finnish nationals living at the al-Hol refugee camp in northeastern Syria for family members of Isis combatants.

Source: Yle