Baghdad, December 31: The leader of the group behind the 2007 kidnap of a British computer expert is among detainees held by the US military being transferred to Iraqi custody, a US military spokesman said on Thursday.
The confirmation of Qais al-Khazaali’s handover to Iraq comes a day after the release of Peter Moore, a 36-year-old IT consultant who was held by Khazaali’s League of the Righteous for two and a half years, amid speculation of a deal for Moore’s release.
Although it was not immediately clear if Khazaali was still in US custody or not, the BBC reported that he had been handed over “very recently”, citing a senior British government official.
“The United States has complied with an Iraqi government request in accordance with the US-Iraqi Security Agreement and the rule of law to transfer AAH (Asaib al-Haq) members, to include Qais al-Khazaali, from US custody to Iraqi custody pursuant to an Iraqi arrest warrant,” the US spokesman said.
“This has been occurring over a seven month period.”
Asaib al-Haq is the Arabic for League of the Righteous.
Before detainees are freed by the US, Iraq evaluates whether there is any evidence that warrants a criminal prosecution before approving their release.
On Wednesday, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said that the US army has handed over several prisoners to the Iraqi government, while a source within the League of the Righteous said negotiations were underway to ensure that among the several hundred detainees being transferred was Khazaali.
In June, Qais al-Khazaali’s brother Laith was freed from a US prison, fuelling hopes of movement on the hostages, but those were lowered when two bodies were handed over a few days later.
Similarly, around 200 members of the League of the Righteous were freed in September, the same month another body was handed over to Britain.
The League of the Righteous is made up of militants who broke away from the Mahdi Army, the former militia of Shiite radical leader Moqtada al-Sadr.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Moore, now in the care of British embassy staff in Baghdad, was “in a remarkable frame of mind” after an “unspeakable two and a half years of misery, fear and uncertainty.”
Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his government hailed Moore’s release.
Moore was kidnapped along with his four bodyguards from the finance ministry in Baghdad in May 2007, by some 40 gunmen from the League of the Righteous.
The Guardian newspaper, quoting sources, reported that the Revolutionary Guard led the operation and took the five to Iran within a day of the kidnap.
Moore was targeted because he was installing a computer tracking system that would show how vast amounts of international aid money from Iraqi institutions was diverted to Iran’s militia groups in Iraq, according to the paper.
A former unnamed Revolutionary Guard said the five were held in two camps including one known as Qasser Shiereen close to the Iraqi border.
“It was an Iranian kidnap, led by the Revolutionary Guard, carried out by the Al-Quds brigade,” he was quoted saying on the paper’s website.
“My contact works for Al-Quds. He took part in the planning of the kidnap and he watched the kidnapping as it was taking place. He told me that they spent two days at the Qasser Shiereen camp.
“They then took them deep inside Iran.”
An unnamed Iraqi government minister reportedly backed up the claims.
“This was an IRG (Iranian Revolutionary Guard) operation,” he said.
Britain’s Foreign Office told the paper: “We have no evidence that the British hostages, including Peter Moore, were held in Iran.
“We are not in a position to say with any certainty where they were held during each and every single day of their two and a half years in captivity.”
—Agencies