Syria | There are still tens of thousands of women and children in harsh conditions in the Al-Holi prison camp

In January 2022 Russia massed its forces in Ukraine and the world speculated whether it could really attack.

It went unnoticed that on January 20, a jihadist organization in northern Syria drove a car loaded with explosives into the walls of Hasaka prison and stormed in with at least a hundred fighters.

The purpose was to free ISIS members, of whom there were even thousands in prison. Some of them were leaders of the jihadist movement.

The battle eventually lasted for ten days, during which more than 500 people were killed. In the end, the Syrian Kurdish forces gained control of the situation.

I messed up the prison uprising describes the situation in which Syria and Iraq still find themselves. ISIS is nowhere near defeated, even though its “caliphate” collapsed already five years ago.

There are still thousands of ISIS jihadists in prisons in northeastern Syria. The research institute is free According to the Washington Institute some thousands of fighters who carry out hundreds of terrorist attacks in Syria every year.

In total, the Kurdish authorities hold approximately 56,000 people, of which 30,000 are children.

The largest of the camps is the al-Holi prison camp. In addition, ISIS fighters or their relatives are in Roji prison camp and about 27 detention centers.

HS said on Tuesdaythat a boy taken to Syria ten years ago, who had lived in the al-Holi camp until he turned 18, had been repatriated to Finland.

Al holin the camp was created when the Isis “caliphate” collapsed for good in 2019. The remaining fighters were driven to northern Syria. The male fighters who surrendered were put in prisons, and the women and their minor children who had traveled with the fighters were gathered in al-Holi.

Some of the women also played an active role in ISIS jihadism.

In December 2023, there were more than 46,000 people in the camp, 94 percent of whom were women and children. At its peak, the camp had up to 60–70,000 inhabitants.

The camp is maintained by the Syrian Kurdish SDF. In practice, the camp lives largely in anarchy. ISIS still has a strong position in the camp, and weapons are moving there.

None of the campers have been charged, and they have no chance to appeal their status.

Food and clean water are scarce in the camp. In winter, temperatures can drop to around zero, and in summer it is suffocatingly hot. Diseases spread easily, and there are few medicines available.

Human rights organization In a report published in April, Amnesty International said that there is torture in the camp. For the report, the organization interviewed about 300 people in the camp.

According to the interviewees, the guards harass and abuse women. On the other hand, Isis has its own chastity police in the camp, who keep a close eye on other prisoners. There are also Yazidis who were prisoners of ISIS and child soldiers who were forced to become fighters of ISIS in the camps.

Amnesty accuses the Kurdish administration and the United States of unacceptable living conditions and demands that they be corrected.

The population in the camps is decreasing very slowly, as the repatriation of prisoners is slow. Most of the campers are Iraqis and Syrians.

Iraq has recently repatriated its citizens to al-Jada, a relocation camp set up near Mosul. The camp tries to adapt newcomers to Iraqi society after years of camp life.