Authorities in the province of Sulaymaniyah on Tuesday handed over to the joint operations in Kirkuk 90 Arab detainees who have been reportedly accused of collaborating with ISIS and other terrorist organizations.
The measure came amid accusations against the Kurdistan Region of detaining thousands of Arab citizens, ten days after the denial of the region’s Interior Ministry.
The Ministry expressed its willingness to allow humanitarian and international and local organizations to visit the prisons.
Ali Al Bayati, a board member of the Independent High Commission for Human Rights in Iraq, confirmed the news that the Kurdistan Region authorities handed over the detainees to the security apparatuses in Kirkuk.
Bayati told Asharq Al-Awsat on Tuesday that the Commission’s office in Kirkuk had received 835 complaints of disappearances, including 100 cases of Turkmen and four cases of Kurds while the rest are Arabs.
Ahmed Askari, a member of the Kirkuk Provincial Council, in remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat denied there are detainees in the Region’s prisons.
“I have no accurate information about the 90 released persons, however, I know that all arrested suspects are accused of collaborating with ISIS,” he said, adding that there are also in the region’s jails Kurd inmates accused of terrorism.
