In the media
January 26, 2026
On 26 January, de Volkskrant published an article on U.S. plans to relocate approximately 7,000 detained members of Islamic State (IS) to Iraq, while at the same time pressing European governments to take back their foreign IS nationals for prosecution in their home countries.
For the piece, Tanya Mehra, Associate Fellow at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT), was interviewed. She described the proposed transfer of detainees to Iraq as "problematic". Mehra pointed out that Iraqi prisons are already overcrowded and questioned whether Iraq has the legal jurisdiction to prosecute suspects who were not active on Iraqi territory. She also raised concerns about the nature and fairness of any trials they might face.
Read the full article here (in Dutch):
