Iraq has offered to put on trial hundreds of accused foreign jihadists in Baghdad in exchange for millions of dollars, potentially solving a legal conundrum for Western governments but sparking rights concerns. Western countries have been rocked by fierce public debate over whether to repatriate citizens who joined the Islamic State group, which held swathes of Iraq and Syria for years before losing its last speck of land last month.
Around 1,000 suspected foreign IS fighters are in detention in northeast Syria, in addition to around 9,000 foreign women and children in Kurdish-run camps there.
Iraq has submitted a proposal to the US-led coalition that fought the jihadists, offering to try and sentence foreign IS suspects in exchange for operational costs, three Iraqi officials told AFP.
"These countries have a problem, here's a solution," one said, speaking anonymously because he was not authorised to give details to the press. The source said Iraq had proposed a rate of $2 million per suspect per year, a calculation based on the estimated per-capital detention costs in the US-run Guantanamo Bay prison. "We made the proposal last week but have not gotten a response yet," the source added.
A second official said Iraq had requested $2 billion to try the suspects as "one of several options", and could ask for "more money to cover the costs of their detention".
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