Baghdad Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi held talks in Baghdad on Sunday with Russian President’s Envoy for the Rights of Children Anna Kuznetsova.
The Russian official’s visit coincided with the arrival of 30 Russian children in Moscow from Baghdad. The mothers of those children, aged three to ten years old, are in prison in Iraq for belonging to Daesh terrorist group, while their fathers are believed to have been killed in combat during Iraq’s three-year war against the militants, a Russian diplomatic source told AFP before their plane departed.
During the meeting in Baghdad, Abdel Mahdi said a “distinction should be made between humanitarian issues and terrorist crimes”, according to a statement from his office. “These children are also victims,” he added.
More than 300 people, including around 100 foreigners, have been sentenced to death and many others to life imprisonment in Iraq for joining Daesh, which at its peak controlled nearly a third of the country.
Baghdad declared victory against the extremist group in December 2017, but the terrorists maintain sleeper cells and have carried out periodic hit-and-run attacks.
Source: International Islamic News Agency