U.S. officials are almost certain that Kurdish fighters are torturing six Islamic State prisoners captured in a U.S. Army Delta Force raid.
Back in late October, Delta Force commandos assisted Kurdish fighters with a raid on an ISIS prison in Iraq, following intelligence reports that Kurds were being held at that location, The Daily Beast reports. There were no Kurds. The raid, however, freed 69 hostages and netted the Kurds 6 ISIS militants as prisoners. Approximately 20 of the hostages freed belonged to the Iraqi military. U.S. aircraft later obliterated the prison. One Delta operator was killed during the rescue operation.
Humanitarian workers and U.S. officials are convinced that the Kurds have started torturing ISIS prisoners. If so, it would technically count as a violation of international law.
“I am sure they are being tortured, no question,” a U.S. defense official, based in Iraq, told The Daily Beast. “You have to remember where we are. Torture is pervasive.”
Verifying this information is almost impossible. Delta Force does not have access to the prisoners, and Kurdish authorities are mum on their location.
Torture would not be out of the question for the Kurds, who have a short, bloody history of wreaking destruction against ISIS.
But U.S. officials seem relatively unconcerned. They haven’t asked for the location of the prisoners, neither has the U.S. complained to the Kurds about alleged torture practices. It isn’t high on the priority list, one defense official noted.
ISIS fighters have gained a reputation for beheadings, rape, torture and absolute cruelty. Last year, a report emerged showing that ISIS tortured Kurdish children by beating them with electric cables. Sympathy for ISIS in the Kurdish region of Iraq is low.
The Kurdistan Region Security Council said first that the prisoners are still being processed, and second, the International Committee for the Red Cross has access to the prisoners.
“We are not aware of information suggesting that these ISIL prisoners have been mistreated in detention in Iraqi Kurdistan,” an Obama administration official told The Daily Beast. “However, we take all such allegations seriously, and we fully expect that our Kurdish partners will continue to adhere to international standards and norms for detainees.”
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