January 31, 2026
The Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights (IOHR) is monitoring with grave concern the Iraqi authorities' commencement, in coordination with the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), of a series of mass transfers of thousands of detainees suspected of belonging to "ISIS" from northeast Syria to Iraq. These movements are part of a plan monitored by IOHR to transfer approximately 7,000 detainees—including 5,000 foreign nationals and 2,000 Iraqis—to detention facilities in the governorates of Nasiriyah, Nineveh, and Babylon.
According to IOHR monitoring teams, Mustafa Saadoon, Chairman of the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights (IOHR), stated: "The success of the transfer process for detainees arriving from Syria depends fundamentally on the prison system's capacity to absorb them through modern isolation and classification mechanisms. IOHR sees an urgent need to adopt a strategy of total 'geographical and technical separation' to ensure these numbers do not destabilize the balances within already overcrowded prisons."
IOHR emphasizes that while the Iraqi government's step falls within the exercise of state sovereignty, it represents the "importation of a security and ideological crisis" into an Iraqi prison environment already suffering from a "functional collapse" caused by extreme overcrowding. IOHR data indicates that occupancy exceeds capacity by more than 300% in many facilities.
Forcing thousands of ideologically and combat-hardened elements into overcrowded cells, where inmates lack the most basic requirements for space and healthcare, transforms these prisons from punitive institutions into "breeding grounds for extremism" and closed academies for reproducing terrorist organizations, according to IOHR.
The Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights (IOHR) reported that the prisons targeted for transfer are experiencing a state of "clinical death" in terms of infrastructure; inmates are forced to sleep in shifts in narrow corridors lacking ventilation and sunlight. This human congestion, documented by IOHR, has turned prisons into epicenters for communicable diseases (such as scabies and tuberculosis), making the addition of any new numbers a "slow death sentence" for both inmates and staff alike.
Click here to read the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights (IOHR) study on torture in Iraqi prisons.
Previous reports prepared by IOHR or international organizations have indicated the presence of thousands of detainees in Iraqi prisons held under investigation for years, or on malicious charges resulting from "secret informant" tips or name similarities. Dr. Hala Al-Shammari, a member of the Board of Trustees of IOHR, stated: "On the international legal level, the international community's continued evasion of repatriating its 5,000 foreign nationals, placing their burden on a dilapidated Iraqi prison system, constitutes a violation of the principle of international responsibility-sharing."
Dr. Al-Shammari added in her statement to the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights (IOHR): "Placing these individuals in Iraqi detention facilities suffering from 300% overcrowding strips the 'Nelson Mandela Rules' of their content and renders the conditions of detention an illegal and degrading punishment for human dignity. IOHR calls for a national legal vision that separates actual perpetrators from victims and those detained on false tips, to ensure that prisons do not become a tool for recruiting innocents into the ranks of terrorist organizations."
IOHR warns that merging "hardline" ideological fighters arriving from Syria with "innocents" or those detained for minor criminal cases will inevitably lead to "ideological cross-pollination" and forced recruitment. Furthermore, IOHR believes the absence of precise screening and isolation strategies paves the way for a repeat of the historical "Camp Bucca" experience, but this time within Iraqi city centers, where the innocent turns into an extremist due to oppression and forced mixing with terrorist leaders.
Based on the role of IOHR as a partner in building the national accountability system, the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights (IOHR) proposes the following pathways:
Activating Alternatives to Detention: The immediate release of those detained for minor offenses or those who have completed their sentences to free up immediate isolation spaces.
Establishing Specialized Isolation Centers: Creating temporary, high-security, and completely isolated detention centers for those arriving from Syria, subject to direct judicial supervision, as recommended by IOHR.
International Legalization of Responsibility: Urging foreign countries to repatriate their 5,000 citizens immediately, or contribute directly to funding the construction of international detention facilities within Iraq that meet global humanitarian standards, according to IOHR.
Mobile Judicial Committees: Forming extraordinary committees to resolve the accumulated files of detainees to ensure that not a single innocent person remains in a cell that might house an extremist element, as suggested by IOHR.
The Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights (IOHR) warns that ignoring these warnings will turn prisons into "ticking time bombs" that threaten social peace and strike at the core of the rule of law.
