Other nations should follow Germany's lead on ISIS prosecution
Amal Clooney. Photo courtesy of Creative Commons.
(OPINION) Germany has began its first genocide trial involving a Daesh fighter. The hearing began on October 10, 2019. The accused is an Iraqi national, Taha A.-J., who was recently transferred from Greece to Germany to stand trial for a litany of crimes.
The 27-year-old man stands accused of genocide and crimes against humanity. He is also facing accusations of war crimes and human trafficking for the purpose of forced labor.
Taha A.-J. is the husband of Jennifer W., a 28-year-old German citizen who is currently on trial before the Higher Regional Court of Munich for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against members of the Yazidi community.
Although Taha A.-J. is not a German national, his victims are not German and his crimes have not been committed on Germany territory, German courts have jurisdiction over the crime of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity under the principle of universal jurisdiction. He and his wife face life sentences if convicted.
According to a press statement, Taha A.-J. joined Daesh before March 2013. The allegations state that in the summer of 2015, Taha A.-J. and Jennifer W. “purchased” and enslaved a five-year-old Yazidi girl and her mother. The couple kept them enslaved in Fallujah, Iraq, and subjected them to forced conversion and physical abuse including battery and starvation. Allegedly, Taha A.-J. chained the girl outside and left her there to die of thirst.
The atrocities that Taha A.-J. and Jennifer W. are accused of are part of a larger campaign perpetrated by Daesh against Yazidis and other religious minorities in Iraq. The atrocities carried out by Daesh are recognized by international institutions, several parliaments and a few governments as genocide carried out by way of mass murder, torture, abuse, slavery, rape and sexual abuse, forced displacement and much more. Name a crime and Daesh has perpetrated it.
Amal Clooney of Doughty Street Chambers (U.K.) and Natalie von Wistinghausen (Germany) are representing the Yazidi woman that Taha A.-J. and Jennifer W. kept enslaved. Leading up to the start of the trial, Amal Clooney said this:
“The arrest of Taha A.-J. is a milestone for survivors of Daesh’s brutal crimes. This is the first time a member of Daesh will face trial for the crime of genocide, anywhere in the world. But as this suspect is apprehended, hundreds of alleged Daesh fighters have reportedly walked free in Syria. I commend the German authorities for their commitment to justice. But survivors have long argued that a global response to Daesh must include a global commitment to bringing them to justice. What we have seen so far is too little, and soon it may be too late.”
As there is still no international tribunal that would have the jurisdiction to prosecute Daesh fighters for the atrocities perpetrated in Iraq or Syria, and with Iraqi courts unable to ensure justice, the proactive approach taken by German courts must be commended.
Other states should extend a helping hand and exercise the universal jurisdiction to prosecute some of the worst atrocities that we have witnessed in recent times. Indeed, over the years, several states have exercised universal jurisdiction to ensure that victims see some justice being done during their lifetimes. There is no reason not to do so in the case of Daesh atrocities.
Alternatively, states must work together to establish an international ad-hoc tribunal to prosecute the perpetrators. Indeed, there is renewed interest in establishing such a tribunal to prosecute Daesh, as Germany, Norway and Sweden have been mapping the available options and possible support from other states. The importance of such an international tribunal should not be undermined, even if one is not fully content with previous tribunals. We need to learn from past mistakes and address them rather than abandon such an option altogether.
The victims and survivors of Daesh atrocities deserve to see justice being done. The world needs to see the end of impunity for atrocities that has diminished our faith in international systems.
Ewelina U. Ochab is a legal researcher and human rights advocate, PhD candidate and author of the book “Never Again: Legal Responses to a Broken Promise in the Middle East” and more than 30 UN reports. She works on the topic of persecution of minorities around the world. This piece was re-published from Forbes with permission.