Bringing ISIS militants to justice in NE Syria without international decision
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – During its recent visit to Counter-Terrorism Specialized court in Qamishli, northeast Syria, the delegation of the US-led Global Coalition’s Civil Affairs stressed the need to prosecute ISIS detainees and repatriate their families to their countries, without addressing the mechanism of trial and repatriation or discussing its means.
On December 9, a delegation from the US-led Global Coalition’s Civil Affairs visited the headquarters of a Counter-Terrorism Specialized court in Qamishli, and discussed the issue of detainees of ISIS militants with officials of the court.
The People’s Defense Court has jurisdiction over terrorism cases, and is affiliated with the Social Justice Council in northeastern Syria.
The officials of the court explained the mechanism of their work and the laws in force in the Autonomous Administration’s courts to the visiting delegation. They also touched on the issue of ISIS detainees in the prisons of northeast Syria.
The presidency of the Terrorism Court called on the Global Coalition to support the courts in northeast Syria from a legal point of view, as well as to recognize the judgments it issues.
It also stressed the need to resolve the issue of ISIS foreign detainees held in northeast Syria without trials, through international coordination, and the commitment of the Global Coalition to complete its mission in supporting the war against ISIS.
Thousands of ISIS detainees of 54 different nationalities are held in prisons in northeast Syria, according to the Autonomous Administration.
On December 11, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) Media Center announced the handing over of more than 100 ISIS detainees, who hold the Iraqi citizenship and were held in prisons of northeast Syria to the Iraqi federal government.
The danger of ISIS detainees
In early August, the SDF Commander-in-Chief Mazloum Abdi said, during the annual meeting of the military councils held by SDF in the city of Hasakah that ISIS still forms a major threat, and that projects of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) should be supported so that they can reach an ultimate defeat against ISIS.
From time to time, al-Sina’a Prison in Hasakah, which houses thousands of ISIS detainees, witnessed several failed escape attempts, and riot inside the prison walls.
Al-Sina’a prison located in Ghuweiran neighborhood, south of Hasakah, is one of the prisons in which the SDF detains nearly 4,000 ISIS foreigners from about 50 countries.
Since last year, the SDF have called for the establishment of prisons with good infrastructure that would allow for better protection for hundreds of ISIS members.
ISIS members of Syrian nationality are tried in two courts in northeastern Syria, one in Qamishli and the other in Kobani.
These two courts, which named The People’s Defense Court, are directly linked to the Justice Council for North and East Syria, according to Khaled Ali, a member of the Social Justice Council for Northeastern Syria.
Last year, Ali said the trial of some members of the ISIS in northeastern Syria does not mean that we are not calling for establishing an international court in the region.
On March 23, two years after the elimination of ISIS from Baghouz; ISIS’s last stronghold, east of Deir ez-Zor, the SDF demanded that regional and international forces assume their responsibilities in solving the issue of ISIS detainees and their families.
The SDF said the danger of ISIS lies in thousands of detainees, who have been arrested, along with thousands of their family members who are detained in Hawl and Roj camps.
In late June 2021, Anwar al-Musharraf, consultant of the AANES said “the exit of ISIS families from Hawl Camp reduces the risk of their revival, while the risk continues if the situation does not change.”
The AANES stresses that all countries that have citizens in Hawl Camp must repatriate them and pay attention to some children that are now over the age of 18, the official noted.
If an international court for ISIS militants is established, the AANES will be ready to secure a place and provide help while receiving sufficient international support, he added.
Countries have reservations about repatriating their citizens
In late June, a statement issued by the Rome meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS said, the assembled ministers committed to strengthening cooperation across all Coalition lines of effort in order to ensure that ISIS core in Iraq and Syria, and its affiliates and networks around the world are unable to reconstitute any territorial enclave or continue to threaten our homelands, people, and interest.
The US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS includes 83 countries, after African countries joined it.
The Ministers committed to pursuing existing effective justice and accountability mechanisms in close coordination with the countries of origin, without any reference to an agreement on the return of states to their subjects, the statement noted.
Although the United States seeks to persuade countries to take back their citizens, rehabilitate them, and even prosecute them, some of those participating in the Coalition have reservations about returning their citizens.
During the past two years, the international attention has focused on prosecuting those detained in terrorism cases of foreign nationalities who are in the AANES’ prisons.
On June 6, 2019, Deputy Special Envoy of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS William Roebuck said they were discussing with their partners the issue of establishing an international court to try the detainees of ISIS held by the Syrian Democratic Forces.
At the time, he indicated that they would preserve the detainees in terms of security, while observing them in a humane manner.
He spoke about the efforts of their partners, in reference to the SDF, in maintaining the security of ISIS’s detainees.
Roebuck stressed their efforts to assist SDF and the AANES in terms of security, especially in the transitional phase from confronting the ISIS militarily to combating terrorism.
At the same time, the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs sent a letter to AANES, confirming his support for the establishment of an international tribunal for members of ISIS.
But so far, the project to establish an international court in the AANES’s regions has not been supported to try ISIS members of foreign nationalities who are in the prisons of AANES, in addition to the fact that their countries have not requested them to be tried in their courts.