ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraq’s foreign minister on Tuesday called on the international community to assist Baghdad in dealing with thousands of foreign Islamic State (ISIS) prisoners recently transferred from Syria.

In a meeting with Geza Andreas von Geyr, State Secretary of the German Federal Foreign Office, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein discussed “the issue of ISIS elements and the government’s efforts to transfer them from Syria and Iraq.”

“Addressing this issue requires concerted efforts, given the presence of many terrorists of foreign nationalities,” Hussein said, as reported by Iraqi state media, noting “the associated financial burdens” of holding the detainees. 

Iraq agreed to take in just over 5,700 ISIS prisoners from its neighbor after the turmoil caused by a January Syrian government offensive in Rojava (northeast Syria) raised fears that detention centers, previously operated by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), would be unable to maintain security amid the conflict.

On Tuesday, Iraq’s justice ministry confirmed that ISIS prisoners of foreign nationalities recently transferred from Syria who are facing the death penalty are exempt from repatriation. 

““Those sentenced to death will have the sentence carried out inside Iraq,” ministry spokesperson Ahmed Laibi told state media. 

Days prior, a senior Iraqi security official said that the transfer of ISIS prisoners from Syria is “not permanent” as Baghdad is working to repatriate them to over 67 countries of origin.

The US military and the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS have been heavily involved in facilitating the transfers.