Da’esh / Islamic State
investigation | cases supported | assistance to justice actors | analysis and case building | capacity Building
CIJA has been investigating Da’esh (Islamic State) in Syria since early 2014 when it established a dedicated Da’esh Crimes Team of investigators. By the beginning of 2015, CIJA expanded this investigation to the territory of Iraq where it operated with the approval of the Kurdistan Regional Government. On 31 March 2021, CIJA concluded its flagship investigation into IS crimes in Iraq, having transferred its evidence archive to the Kurdish Regional Government and UNITAD.
INVESTIGATION
CIJA investigators have salvaged a wide range of Da’esh-related material including foreign fighter passports, computer hardware, recruitment forms, and other organisational documents, preserving over 58,000 pages of documents in its dedicated Da’esh archive. In addition to original documentation and digital material, CIJA has interviews over 1,300 witnesses within Syria, Iraq and neighbouring countries, including victims, suspected Da’esh members in detention, their family members, and other witnesses with direct knowledge of the terrorist organisation and its crimes.
cases that cija has supported
CIJA’s support has led to concrete results in several jurisdictions holding Da’esh fighters accountable for a range of international and transnational criminal offenses.
Oussama Achraf Akhlafa: In July 2019, a Dutch court convicted Oussama Achraf Akhlafa of membership in a terrorist organisation and the war crime of committing outrages upon human dignity and degrading treatment. The verdict constituted the first conviction within Europe of a former Da’esh fighter for war crimes.
Zoher J.: In March 2019, the Higher Regional Court of Munich convicted Zoher J., a former leader of an extremist armed group in Aleppo, for the provision of material support to a terrorist organisation, sentencing him to seven years imprisonment and three additional years of parole. The Court found that Zuhair had held a leadership role in the Aleppo-based battalion (katiba) ‘Mohamed Ibn Abdullah’ from November 2012, also noting that the battalion was later affiliated with Jabhat al Nusra and the Islamic State. During the trial, CIJA personnel offered several days of testimony. CIJA Executive Director Bill Wiley, testified to CIJA’s objectives, structures and working methods. More importantly, the key witness in the case, a CIJA field investigator based in Syria, addressed questions regarding the individual criminal responsibility of Zuhair.
More broadly, CIJA was able to corroborate and promptly share evidence pointing to an imminent terrorist plot with the relevant national authorities, and contribute towards a rescue operation by KRG authorities of a thirteen year-old Yazidi girl from Syria following nearly four years of captivity, following positive identification of the child by CIJA investigators in Syria and Iraq.
Mustafa M., indicted in Koblenz, Germany on 18 January 2024, on charges of membership of a Da’esh, 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. CIJA located Mustafa M. who is a Syrian national, within Germany in 2020, developing and pro-actively submitting a suspect dossier to national authorities. The dossier included evidence and analysis of their alleged crimes in and around Palmyra in 2015, including pillage, torture, executions and mutilation of corpses, alongside his known location in Germany. Following the submission of the suspect dossier, until the arrest of Mustafa M. on 21 March 2023, CIJA received and responded to four requests for assistance alongside frequent liaison between CIJA and relevant authorities.
assistance to justice actors
Investigating Da’esh has been a major priority for countries throughout the world as governments counter the threat of global terrorism, including by holding accountable their own nationals who joined the organisation as “foreign terrorist fighters” (“FTF”). CIJA has provided evidence, analysis, and briefings to support the law enforcement and prosecutorial authorities of 13 governments conducting numerous criminal investigations into current and former members of Da’esh. Moreover, our proactive suspect dossiers have led to the creation of multiple Joint Investigative Teams with whom CIJA continues to provide additional assistance to.
analysis and case building
Based on this evidence, CIJA completed 10 case briefs and reports that identify a wide range of ranking Daesh members responsible for atrocities committed in Iraq and Syria, which include crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide. In addition, CIJA has produced 9 suspect dossiers of Da’esh members, including leaders and those involved in the slave trade, sharing them with law enforcement within the jurisdictions they are located in.
capacity building
CIJA’s two teams of Da’esh Investigators have been trained, mentored, and supported by a team of international multi-disciplinary experts. Their professionalism and tireless dedication ensured the collection of one of the most robust evidence holdings regarding IS, most of it secured in the midst of ongoing conflict whilst maintaining criminal justice standards.
“’[W]hen the investigator is part of the social fabric of the area they work in, they are very well positioned to be successful as an investigator because they are fully aware of the locals’ ways of thinking and can choose the best and most satisfactory method to conduct the interview with any case they encounter. They can also anticipate any outcome or reaction before it happens, and can therefore avoid countless problems.”
Syrian Field Investigator
“I see and feel that I have adhered to the principle of Do No Harm, because the witnesses keep in touch with me, and this indicates that I have built a bridge of trust with them.”
Iraqi Field Investigator