ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraq has completed the interrogation of over 5,700 Islamic State (ISIS) inmates transferred from Syria during clashes between Kurdish-led forces in Rojava (northeast Syria) and Damascus earlier this year, the Supreme Judicial Council said Tuesday.

The prisoners were transferred to Iraq after turmoil caused by a January Syrian government offensive in Rojava raised fears that detention facilities previously operated by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) could lose control of the inmates amid the conflict.

The first phase of interrogations began with 500 prisoners and was completed on February 17.

“The First Karkh Investigation Court announced the completion of the interrogation phase in the case of 5704 defendants from the ISIS terrorist gangs who were transferred from northeastern Syria to Iraq,” the judiciary said, adding that each case will now be taken to court.

The interrogations found that 3,497 of the prisoners are Syrian and 474 are Iraqi. The detainees include people from 67 nationalities, including 16 Arab countries, 19 European countries and 32 other foreign nationalities.

An American and a Finnish detainee were handed over to their respective governments, while seven Iraqis were released due to “lacking” evidence.

ISIS took control of swathes of Syrian and Iraqi territory in 2014, announcing their self-proclaimed caliphate with the city of Mosul as its capital. They were territorially defeated with assistance from the US-led coalition forces in Iraq by 2017 and in Syria by 2019.

“The investigations…revealed a number of highly dangerous individuals who held leadership positions in security, religious, military, or media circles, or who were involved in high-profile operations and crimes with international dimensions, including top-tier leaders within ISIS terrorist groups,” the judiciary said.

The investigation also uncovered further information on the “serious crimes” committed against the Yazidi community. Six suspects were identified as being “directly” involved in the enslavement, detention, transfer and sale of people.

On August 3, 2014, ISIS militants seized control of the Yazidi heartland of Sinjar, launching a campaign of killings, abductions, genocidal rape and forced conversions against members of the ethnoreligious minority.

January’s violent offensive by the Syrian Arab Army on Rojava presented a major threat of ISIS members taking advantage of the security vacuum to escape facilities.

The ongoing US-Israel war with Iran also poses risks for the prison in Baghdad where the detainees are currently kept.

The al-Karkh prison, where the transferred prisoners are being held, is near the Baghdad International Airport, which houses the Camp Victory base, an American diplomatic facility that has been repeatedly targeted by drone strikes since the outbreak of the US and Israeli war on Iran in late February.