Commission for International Justice and Accountability

The Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA) is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation dedicated to furthering criminal justice efforts through investigations, in order to prevent the loss and destruction of vital evidence for the purpose of supporting prosecutorial efforts to end impunity, whether at the domestic or international level.

CIJA’s aim is to expand opportunities to achieve justice for a broad range of crimes that impact vulnerable populations across the globe, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, terrorism, human trafficking, and migrant smuggling.

TO ACHIEVE THIS GOAL:

  • CIJA gathers evidence of crimes that are beyond the reach of international and domestic justice institutions. CIJA places an emphasis on evidence linking specific perpetrators to these crimes.

  • CIJA builds local capacity to collect evidence in accordance with criminal justice standards and works closely with local actors in pursuit of evidence.

  • CIJA shares its expertise through technical assistance and mentoring for competent national authorities seeking to investigate international crimes in accordance with criminal justice standards.

  • CIJA preserves and analyses evidence in order to provide evidentiary and analytical support to international and domestic criminal justice institutions pursing accountability through investigations, prosecutions, and trials.

CIJA’s work has expanded from its initial efforts to collect and preserve evidence of potential crimes committed in Syria to include both short-term capacity building and longer-term investigations in cooperation with local authorities and/or affected communities in multiple countries.

CIJA is apolitical and carries out its investigative activities independently of any government.

CIJA currently works to support prosecutions in 16 countries, assisting 52 law enforcement and counter-terrorism agencies and 14 prosecutorial offices globally.

CIJA’S EVIDENCE, ANALYSIS AND TESTIMONY HAVE SUPPORTED COMPLETED AND ONGOING CASES INCLUDING:

  • Syrian Regime | Colvin v Syrian Arab Republic, USA: the first case against the state of Syria for the extra-judicial killing of American journalist Marie Colvin;

  • Da’esh | Zoher J., a former leader of an extremist armed group in Aleppo was convicted in Germany for the provision of material support to a terrorist organization;

  • Da’esh | Oussama Ashraf Akhlafa, was convicted in the Netherlands, constituting the first conviction within Europe of a former Da’esh fighter for war crimes;

  • Syrian Regime | Eyad Al Gharib, a former Syrian secret service agent from Subdivision 40 of Branch 251 of the General Intelligence Directorate in Damascus, was convicted in Germany for 30 counts of crimes against humanity;

  • Syrian Regime | Anwar Ruslan, the former Head of Investigations of Branch 251 of the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate was convicted in Germany for 52 counts crimes against humanity, including torture, murder, assault, in addition to several counts of rape and sexual assault;

  • Da’esh | Sami AS. was convicted in Germany for aiding and abetting war crimes, murder, and supporting a foreign terrorist organisation.

  • Da’esh | Sarah O. was convicted in Germany under the juvenile justice framework for crimes against humanity of assault, deprivation of liberty, aiding and abetting rape, enslavement and religious and gender-based persecution as well as membership of a foreign terrorist organisation, for offences carried out in Raqqa, Syria.

  • Da’esh | Taha al-J. was convicted in Germany for genocide based on causing serious bodily or mental harm for the enslavement of a Yezidi woman and her daughter and the subsequent murder of her daughter, in Fallujah, Iraq.

  • Da’esh | Walid Al Zeytun, was acquitted in Sweden, for war crimes of violation of personal dignity, humiliating and degrading treatment and killing of a protected person, allegedly carried out in Al Sawanda, Homs, Syria.

  • Syrian Regime | Mustafa A. was convicted in the Netherlands for complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity carried out in his capacity as a member of the pro-Assad militia Liwa al-Quds, where he participated in the torture, inhumane treatment and illegal deprivation of liberty of civilians within the Al Nayrab Camp bear Aleppo, in 2012 or 2013.

  • Syrian Regime | Mohammed Hamo was acquitted in Sweden, for aiding and abetting serious crimes against international law for his role in Syrian Army attacks in Homs and Ar Rastan.

  • Syrian Regime | Ali Mamlouk, Jamal Hassan and Abdul Salam Mahmoud were convicted in-absentia in France, for complicity in crimes against humanity of imprisonment, torture, enforced disappearance and murder and for the war crime of confiscation of property, committed against Patrick and Mazzen Dabbagh following their arrest and detention in Al-Mezzeh Detention Centre, Damascus, in November 2013.

  • Syrian Regime | Alaa M., a former medical professional for the Syrian Military Intelligence was convicted in Germany for his role in crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Military Hospital 608 and Branch 261 prison in Homs, Syria.

  • Myanmar Armed Forces | The Republic of Gambia v. The Union of the Republic of Myanmar, ongoing case before the International Court of Justice regarding alleged acts of genocide against members of the Rohingya population, in violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

  • Syrian Regime | Canada and the Netherlands v. Syrian Arab Republic, ongoing case before the International Court of Justice regarding widespread and systematic conduct of torture by the Syrian Regime since 2011 in violation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

  • Syrian Regime | Ahmad H., was convicted in Germany for crimes against humanity and war crimes including including torture, deprivation of liberty and enslavement committed as a member of the Regime- controlled paramilitary force the National Defence Force (NDF) in Tadamon, Damascus.

  • Da’esh | Mustafa M., was released following arrest in Germany on suspicion of membership of a foreign terrorist organization; war crimes of killing, taking hostage, torture, imposing sentences without due process; war crime of attempted killing; murder; and the war crime of illegal appropriation of property.

  • Syrian Regime | Hossin A., was indicted in Belgium for crimes against humanity and war crimes including murder and torture, allegedly committed as a member of the Regime- controlled paramilitary force the National Defence Force (NDF) in Salamiyah, Hama.

  • Da’esh | Sonia M., was indicted in France for crimes against humanity and genocide including sexual slavery of a Yezidi teenager, for acts committed in Iraq, Syria and Turkey between 2014 – 2019.

  • Syrian Regime | Anon., was arrested in the Netherlands for crimes against humanity including sexual violence and torture in his alleged role as a senior member of the Regime-controlled NDF, carried out in Salamiyah, Hama between 2013-2014.

  • Da’esh | Anon., was arrested in Belgium for crimes against humanity and war crimes including pillage, kidnapping, torture, murder, and corpse mutilation carried out in Palmyra, Homs, as a member of Da’esh.

  • Da’esh | Amer A., was indicted in Germany for crimes against humanity, war crimes and membership of a terrorist organisation as the suspected leader of Liwa Jund Al-Rahman for acts carried out in Deir ez-Zor in 2013.

  • Syrian Regime | Jihad A., Mahmoud A., Mazhar J., Sameer S. and Wael S., Paramilitary members and Intelligence officers are on trial in Germany for alleged crimes committed in the Al Yarmouk area of Damascus in July 2011.

  • Syrian Regime | Samir Ousman al-Sheikh, is in pre-trial detention in the USA for four counts of torture and falsely describing if he had killed or persecuted. Al-Sheikh was the Head of Adra Prison between 2005 2008, Governor of Deir ez-Zour and Head of the Deir ez-Zour Security Committee in 2011.

  • Syrian Regime | Jamil Hassan and Abdul Salam Mahmoud, indictments were unsealed in the USA alleging conspiracy to commit war crimes at the Air Force Intelligence Mezzeh Prison between 2012-19.

  • Da’esh | Lina Ishaq was convicted in Stockholm for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes and sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for her role in the enslavement and forced religious conversion of nine Yezidi women and children in Raqqa, Syria during 2015.  

  • Da’esh | Mehdi Nemouche, Abdulmalik Tanem, Kais Al Abdullah, Oussama Atar and Salim Benghalem, were convicted for kidnapping and holding four journalists hostage between June 2013 and April 2014 in Aleppo, Syria.

  • Da’esh | Osama Krayem, was convicted in Stockholm for war crimes and terrorism offences for his role in the murder of Jordanian air force pilot Lt. Muath al-Kassasbeh who was captured and then burned alive in a cage near Raqqa, Syria in 2014-2015.

  • Da’esh | Ossama A., was indicted in Germany for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes for the enslavement of Yezidi women and girls in Deir-ez-Zor in 2014.

  • Syrian Regime | Zakaria B., was convicted in Germany for the war crime of degrading or humiliating treatment for acts carried out during an attack on the Sheikh Masqud neighborhood of Aleppo in September 2012, while serving as a member of a local paramilitary group.  

  • Da’esh | Asmael K., is on trial alongside Mohammed A. in Germany for their roles in the abduction of two individuals and their subsequent execution, alongside ten other individuals in Damascus in 2013.

  • Syrian Regime | Mahmoud S., Sweden, a 55 year-old Swedish man is on trial at Solna District Court for war crimes allegedly committed during the siege of Yarmouk by the Syrian Regime and its affiliated armed militia groups in 2012 and 2013.

  • Syrian Regime | Bashar Al Assad et al.  three arrest warrants have been issued in France for separate incidents including (1) Use of chemical weapons in Al Ghouta and Douma in August 2013; (2) Attacks on civilians using barrel bombs in Da’ra (killing of Salah Abou Nabout) in June 2017; (3) killing of journalists in Homs in February 2012.

  • Syrian Regime | Khalid Al-Halibi and Mussab A.R., indicted in Vienna for torture, serious bodily harm and sexual coercion carried out in Raqqa between 2011 – 2013 in their roles as former head of Military Intelligence Branch 335, former head of investigations, Criminal Security Branch.

  • Da’esh | Zahra Halane was convicted in Denmark for her role as an IS fighter and housewife in Syria between 2014 - 2019, in Aarhus, Denmark on 30th January 2026 and sentenced to 5 years in prison.

CIJA’S EVIDENCE HAS SUPPORTED THE RIGHT TO TRUTH THROUGH EVIDENCE BASED REPORTING, INCLUDING:

CIJA HAS:

  • Completed 24 structural investigations and legal briefs identifying dozens of high-ranking Syrian Regime, Islamic State and Burmese suspects;

  • Secured almost 1,200,000 pages of documents generated by the parties within the Syrian regime and the Islamic State;*

  • Interviewed over 5,500 witnesses including defectors, individuals with direct knowledge of perpetrating parties and their structures as well as victims;*

  • Responded to 920 Requests for Assistance from 31 justice actors.*

*updated: 31 March 2024

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