Syria Kurds release 50 IS-linked detainees: official

Syria's Kurdish authorities on Monday released 50 Syrian prisoners accused of belonging to the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group as part of a general amnesty deal, an official told AFP.

Thousands of detainees suspected of belonging to IS, including hundreds of foreigners, are being held in prisons run by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the armed wing of the semi-autonomous Kurdish-led region in northeastern Syria.

The administration in July granted general amnesty "for crimes committed by Syrians in accordance with the law on combatting terrorism as well as crimes that undermine the security of the region".

Reber Kalo, an official with the Asayish security forces, told AFP that "under the amnesty, 50 people accused of belonging to the terrorist organisation Daesh were released on Monday," using the Arabic acronym for IS.

This is the second group to be released out of a total of the 1,000 to 1,500 people expected to benefit from the amnesty.

The amnesty deal, according to the official, only applies to "Syrians and does not include foreigners, and is limited to those whose hands are not stained with blood", stressing that "no one who participated in the fighting will be released".

"There will be other waves of releases in the coming months," he said.

The general amnesty was decided on in response to the "recommendations of the meeting of Syrian tribes and components held on May 25", reads a July statement from the administration.

An AFP photographer in the northeastern city of Hasakeh saw the prisoners being handed over by Kurdish security forces to tribal leaders.

The SDF, dominated by Kurds but which also includes Arab fighters in its ranks, had already in the past released dozens of Syrians accused of being linked to IS from their prisons after obtaining guarantees from tribal leaders.

IS seized control of large swathes of Syria in 2014, launching a reign of terror before being defeated in 2019 by a United States-led international coalition aided by the SDF.

Since then, the autonomous administration has been holding around 56,000 people, including 30,000 children, in 24 detention centres and two camps – Al-Hol and Roj – in northeastern Syria.

Among them are IS fighters and their families, as well as displaced people who fled the fighting.