SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) denied a report that it had released Islamic State (ISIS) suspects in exchange for money.
The Guardian reported on Monday that Kurdish-led forces in charge of jails in northeast Syria housing nearly 10,000 men with alleged links to ISIS were releasing prisoners in exchange for money under a “reconciliation” scheme.
The Guardian cited two freed men and official documents as saying that as part of the deal, the released prisoners sign a declaration promising not to rejoin any armed organization and to leave the parts of northeast Syria under control of the SDF.
“Britain’s Guardian newspaper has published a false report based on a document that claims to show that ISIS prisoners were released from detention centers in northeast in exchange for money,” the SDF said in a statement.
“We strongly deny this and previously warned the newspaper the document was forged, but they published it anyway,” it added.
The SDF further said it would reveal detains of the forgery if the newspaper did not respond to their request.
Nearly 8,000 Syrian and Iraqi men accused of being ISIS members, and 2,000 more foreigners are held in three overcrowded SDF-administrated prisons in northeast Syria.
