It is believed that the group includes at least 15 Indonesians and one Malaysian woman.
According to the official, many of them were detained along with their children.
German newspaper Die Welt reported earlier this month that some 800 foreign women who joined the IS militant group with their children had been detained by US-backed Kurdish forces in northern Syria.
The German daily interviewed Human Rights Watch’s terrorism and counterterrorism programme director, Nadim Houry, who spoke with many of the women during visits to several detention camps in Kurdish-held areas last month.
“I know that there are Indonesians, at least 15 families,” Houry told FMT via email.
“I did not see the Malaysians, but I am told there is one family.
“Most families have kids, so while I have no specifics about these families, my suspicion would be yes, they have kids.”
Houry said Indonesia was one of the few countries that took some families back in 2017.
“The other country to have taken some of their nationals back is Russia. But there are still some (remaining),” he said, adding that he had not had the chance to speak to them as much this time around.
“But I met some Indonesian families on a previous trip in July 2017, though I am told that Indonesia took that group of women back.”
Houry did not say if there were women from other Southeast Asian countries in the camps, or what had happened to the Malaysian family.
The German paper quoted him as saying that the 800 women and their children were in four camps.
“They come from around 40 countries. There are women from Canada, France, Britain, Tunisia, Yemen, Turkey and Australia,” he said, adding that there were also 15 from Germany.
Houry said the women were given a certain amount of freedom but were not allowed to leave the camps.
They were also being held separate from the captured IS fighters, he said.
Some women he interviewed said they had been “beaten and humiliated” during interrogations and forced to live in unhygienic conditions with their babies.
“These women are in a very difficult situation. For the little kids, especially, the circumstances are by no means good,” Houry was quoted as saying.
The terrorism expert said the women wanted to return home and were willing to face criminal charges in their home countries.
“Some women want to at least send their children home,” he said, adding that European governments should allow the children to return.
“The children have not committed any crime. They are victims of the war, and often their radicalised parents,” he said.
Possible repatriation
Pawel Wójcik, a Southeast Asian terrorism analyst for Polish current affairs site mPolska24, said there were dozens of families from the region still in the custody of the Syrian Democratic Forces and YPG (Kurdish militia People’s Protection Unit).
“The Kurds are open to negotiations with governments for the repatriation of their citizens,” he told FMT.
“Families staying in Iraq’s custody have fewer options as the Iraqis are much more likely to prosecute or execute them.”
Wójcik said it was up to Malaysia to decide what to do with its citizens.
“No doubt there is a need to investigate what role exactly a Malaysian citizen had in the Islamic State terror organisation before they were nabbed by the Kurds.
“This is important because in some cases, there is a chance to de-radicalise and facilitate the Malaysian women’s reintegration into society.
“However, in other cases, such as Malaysian women who were members of the infamous morality police or serving in IS military or administration, it would be harder for the Malaysian government to de-radicalise or reintegrate them.”
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