The progressive, Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) used to boast a lower incarceration rate than any state bar San Marino, due to its stated principles of restorative, community-led justice. But following the unrecognized region’s successful military campaign to defeat the Islamic State (Isis), the region now has among the world’s highest rates, holding around 2,000 foreign Isis fighters and 8,000 Syrians and Iraqis in jail – plus tens of thousands of Isis-linked women and children in ad hoc detention camps.
As indicated by regular breakout attempts and a January 2022 uprising costing hundreds of lives, these facilities are hotbeds of radicalization, fuelling fears the group will resurge. The West has failed to find a solution, with foreign Isis detainees yet to face justice. Less than four per cent of foreign fighters have been repatriated, while the diplomatically-unrecognized status of the AANES means their nominal allies in the US-led Coalition to Defeat Isis have found it easy to ignore their junior partner’s repeated proposals for an internationally-mediated or Kurdish-led tribunal in northern Syria.
