QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The trials of the Islamic State (ISIS) detainees in Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) detention centers remains suspended, as the countries the militants hail from refuse to receive them, or even to prosecute them.
The question that arises is how long thousands of ISIS detainees will remain detained in prisons, detention centers, and camps of the Autonomous Administrations of North and East Syria (AANES) without trial.
With the expulsion of ISIS in eastern Deir ez-Zor Governorate, eastern Syria, in 2019, more than 10,000 ISIS militants surrendered to the SDF, with the support of the U.S.-led Global Coalition to defeat ISIS, which declared victory over ISIS after capturing the town of Baghuz, eastern Deir ez-Zor at the time.
The prisons and camps, in AANES-held areas, house more than 60,000 ISIS militants and family members from 58 Arabic and foreign countries. Their fate remains undetermined until now, and no country or international human rights organization has adopted the file of their trail or their repatriation to their countries.
Trails of ISIS detainees
Rima Barakat, head of the General Justice Council in Hasakah Governorate, northeastern Syria, told North Press that the trail of Syrian ISIS detainees has been ongoing since the establishment of the People’s Defense Court in 2014 until now.
Barakat added that the trials were conducted in three courts in the cities of Afrin in northwestern Syria, Kobani in northern the country, and Hasakah. However, after the Turkish occupation of Afrin, only courts of Kobani and Hasakah carried on trials, and until now, the trial of the Syrian ISIS detainees are the only in progress.
As for foreigners, the AANES has launched and continued to issue its appeals through various means, such as media, diplomatic meetings, and representatives around the world, calling for the necessity of holding a court for these detainees.
Until now, we have not received any response or assistance in this regard either from official or unofficial sources, so the trial of foreign detainees is still suspended, Barakat added.
The official clarified that the AANES ended up having only option, which is to conduct the trial of those detainees (foreigners and Syrians) via the local court which has only tried Syria so far.
International Apathy
Those detainees pose a burden on the AANES, given the disregard of countries of the ISIS detainees, and the repatriation of their citizens who contributed and participated in these battles and committed crimes in northeastern Syria.
Regarding the reason for not referring the foreign detainees to a local court, Barakat said that there are many issues hinder the process, such as specific detention facilities, trial procedures, rehabilitation programs that must be implemented for the convicted, and the fate of the convicted after undergoing trial.
Barakat also highlighted the need to come up with agenda for the fate of the ISIS detainees who complete their sentence on the Syrian territories. Therefore, there must be channels established with countries they hail from. Hence, there is a significant burden on the AANES that must be addressed before trials.
Absence of Trial Process
In a previous statement to North Press, researcher Lazgin Ibrahim in the Euphrates Center for Studies, said that the countries of the U.S.-led Global Coalition the lack an agreed-upon agenda about the proper way to trial those militants.
Ibrahim added that even if a specific country retrieves individuals holding its nationality, it will need detailed files for each person individually, including the crimes they committed and the witnesses present on the ground. All these details remain obstacle to the proper prosecution of these individuals.
According to the aforementioned, this requires the presence of preliminary procedures before their trial, at least collecting all the files that incriminate these individuals or obtaining testimonies from the victims of ISIS to serve as eyewitnesses. But so far, no country has taken any steps towards establishing such courts for these individuals.
The head of the General Justice Council, in her speech, indicated their attempts to communicate with some countries through representatives of the AANES regarding this issue.
She also mentioned that they have been in contact with numerous human rights organizations, former judges, and experienced lawyers in the trial of individuals who have committed crimes against humanity, in order to obtain support and increase coordination within this framework.
Unanswered appeals
The AANES, human rights organizations, and Syrian activists and researchers have appealed to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for adopting the file and referring it to the International Criminal Court. However, all the calls were unanswered.
“Referring any issue to the International Criminal Court needs either a decision by the UNSC, starting investigations by the Court’s prosecutor, or referring the file to the Court by a member state in Rome Statute, however, neither of these have been achieved yet,” she added.
Ibrahim said that one of the main reasons behind postponing the trial of the ISIS militants is that there are still thousands of foreigners who need an international decision, particularly from the International Criminal Court, especially that ISIS committed international crimes and only the International Criminal Court is authorized to prosecute them.
Since Syria is not a member in this court, an international decision is needed, Ibrahim said.
He told North Press, “There is another obstacle which is the Russian and Chinese veto that hinders prosecuting those militants by the AANES.”
Population of the region is afraid of the ISIS militants presence in the detention centers without finding a solution for this file.
“The presence of ISIS militants in the region without trials burdens the AANES, as its Social Contract and all its international conventions stipulate that people have the right to receive fair trials,” Barakat added.
Additionally, the detention centers are crowded with ISIS detainees who need food, protection and medical care. This exacerbates the burdens of the AANES.
She highlighted another “serious danger”, saying, “ISIS is likely to reorganize itself in the detention centers, which are the largest strongholds in which such organizations can reorganize themselves again. This puts the region in the danger of exploding again and being under the risks of ISIS terrorism.”