Iraqi authorities will hang over 3,000 prisoners over ISIS links

Iraq has sentenced 3,130 prisoners to death for alleged links to ISIS and other militant organizations since 2013, as the nation’s criminal justice system struggles to deal with thousands of prisoners from its four-year fight against extremist groups.

Iraq has detained or imprisoned at least 19,000 people accused of terror-related offenses, according to an Associated Press analysis of a 27,849-person spreadsheet of all those imprisoned in Iraq as of late January. The spreadsheet was provided by an Iraqi official on the condition of anonymity.

The real number of detained prisoners is likely to be even higher, as many prisoners are being held by police, military intelligence and Kurdish forces. Those sentenced to die include the sister of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and foreigners who traveled to join ISIS’s self-declared caliphate.

Of those detained, 8,861 have been convicted of terror offenses since the start of 2013. AP quoted an Iraqi intelligence official who said it was likely that the vast majority of these were related to ISIS. Another 11,000 people are currently undergoing interrogation or are awaiting trial, another official said.

Source: Newsweek