ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraq on Tuesday announced the return of two detainees, a minor from Finland and a US national, to their countries of origin after concluding that they had no affiliation with the Islamic State (ISIS).

“The National Center for International Judicial Cooperation announced the handover of two detainees (a minor, a citizen of the Republic of Finland, and another from the United States of America) to the competent authorities in their respective countries,” Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council announced in a statement.

The decision was made after “it was proven they had no affiliation with ISIS terrorist gangs,” the council added.

An Iraqi court ordered the Finnish minor’s release on March 31 and transferred him to the Finnish Embassy in Baghdad for repatriation, according to a statement released by the embassy days prior.

The minor was taken to Syria in mid-2010s and was placed in the now-dismantled al-Hol camp, which housed relatives of ISIS fighters, in February 2019, and was eventually transferred alongside thousands of ISIS detainees from northeast Syria to Baghdad in February 2026, according to the Embassy.

The development comes as part of Iraq’s ongoing investigation process into ISIS prisoners transferred from Syria, whose case rulings are still pending.

In February, Iraq agreed to take in 5,704 ISIS prisoners from its neighbor in coordination with Washington after turmoil triggered by a January Syrian government offensive in Rojava (northeast Syria) raised fears that detention centers would be unable to maintain security.

According to the Supreme Judicial Council in February, the transferred prisoners come from 61 different nationalities.

In early April, Baghdad said it had finished the initial investigations of 1,000 detainees, with thousands more still awaiting due process and potential repatriation.