Municipal official says Islamic State prisoners released for bribes
Representational photo.
Naeem al-Kaoud, head of the security committee at the province’s council, was quoted Saturday saying that “corrupt” elements within the security services had been setting Islamic State members free for “a bunch of dollars”. He said his committee was eager to uncover those elements and refer them to a military trial.
Kaoud is not the first Iraqi figure to report a release-for-money situation involving Iraqi security members. Earlier in April, an Iraqi parliament member accused some Iraqi security members of setting Islamic State captives free in return for money, urging intervention by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
“While accurate statistics of the numbers and nationalities of Daesh (IS) members arrested in Mosul are lacking, some weak-spirited security members release some of them in return for money,” Alia Nassif, an outspoken MP from al-Islah (Reform) Front, said in a statement.
She said the alleged releases occur even if the militants are caught red-handed.
“Where is oversight over prisons, the numbers and locations of which we do not know? How come that the bloods of innocent Iraqis go in vain as murderers are set free so easily?,” Nassif wondered, urging the prime minister to personally order a high-level probe into the information.
The Iraqi government is leading a U.S.-backed, wide-scale campaign to eliminate IS fighters from their strongholds in Iraq, most notably Mosul. Iraqi generals say the group controls less than seven percent of Iraqi territories.