The Iraqi judiciary announced on Monday the start of investigative procedures for suspected-ISIS members who were transferred by the U.S. military from Syria to Iraq.

A statement published on the website of the Supreme Judicial Council said: "The First Karkh Investigative Court announced that it has begun investigative procedures with 1,387 ISIS members who were recently received from Syrian territory."

The Yaroubiya border crossing with Syria in the city of Rabia, north of Mosul. (AFP)

According to the statement, the investigation is being conducted by a number of judges specialized in counter-terrorism, under the direct supervision of the head of the Supreme Judicial Council.

These detainees are among up to 7,000 members of the extremist group, whom the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced it had begun transferring from Syria to Iraq about two weeks ago, in a move to "ensure terrorists remain in secure detention facilities."

Among those being transferred to Iraq are Syrians, Iraqis, Europeans, and holders of other nationalities, according to Iraqi security sources. The extremist group ISIS controlled large areas in northern and western Iraq from 2014 until Iraqi forces, supported by the U.S.-led international coalition, defeated it in 2017.

Iraq is still recovering from the severe abuses committed by the jihadists. In Syria, where the group was defeated in 2019, thousands of suspected jihadists and their families, including foreigners, were detained in prisons and camps managed by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The announcement of the plan to transfer the group’s members to Iraq came last month after U.S. envoy to Damascus Tom Barrack stated that the SDF’s role in countering the extremist group had ended.

In previous years, Iraqi courts issued death sentences and life imprisonment for those convicted of belonging to a "terrorist group" in cases of terrorism and the killing of hundreds of people, including French nationals. Thousands of Iraqis and foreigners convicted of belonging to the group remain in Iraqi prisons.