Islamic State Detainees Transferred from Syria to Iraq: Statistical Breakdown

Translation and Overview

(Updated: 17 February 2026: this post has been updated and revised following queries from Devorah Margolin)

Recently, a document has circulated that purports to come from a prison in western Baghdad (the right bank of the Tigris River, since the river flows from north to south) affiliated with Iraq’s Justice Ministry. The document provides a statistical overview of prisoners recently transferred from SDF-run prisons in Syria that were holding people accused of affiliation with the Islamic State.

At least in the case of the foreigners from outside Iraq and Syria, it is likely that most of them were affiliated with the Islamic State at some point, though investigations will also have to consider whether some of might have initially entered Islamic State territory without formally joining the organisation itself (something that would require giving allegiance to the group’s caliph) and whether some might have been expelled from the group after joining for reasons of misconduct but continued to reside in Islamic State-held territory.

Is the circulated document authentic? Initially, I had thought so.