‘Our duty is to record ISIS crimes against Kurdish Yezidi’
The Kurdistan Regional Government has established a special commission to document the crimes of the Islamic State against Kurdish Yezidi civilians in the Shingal area and other Kurdish enclaves outside the Kurdistan region.
The commission will draw on crimes committed in Kosovo, Rwanda and Darfurin order to prevent the mistakes of the past, said Judge Ayman Mostafa, who since September has been chief of the Investigation and Evidence Commission in the Kurdish city of Duhok.
Mostafa, 38 , studied in forensic criminology in the UK and public policy in South Korea. After 15 years as a criminal investigator, he is now a judge of Deralook First Instance Court.
As Mostafa pointed out, the Anfal campaign carried out against the Kurds by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has not been officially declared a genocide by the international community because of lost evidence and procedural errors.
But this time, he said, the KRG aims to have the Islamic State’s crimes against the Yezidis recognized for what they are.
Rudaw: What is the Investigation and Evidence Commission doing exactly?
Ayman Mostafa: We are working to gather and document the evidence that recognizes and identifies the crimes committed by Daesh [the Arabic acronym for Islamic State] members against the civilians in Shingal and surrounding areas, everything that might be identified as genocide and crimes against humanity.
As we are not a court, we do not determine whether genocide has been committed. We depend on the statements of victims and eye witnesses.
The victims come to register a complaint against Daesh members and we record the details of their suffering during the abductions, attempted murder, sexual enslavement, rape, displacement, forced conversion to Islam and child soldiers.
When victims mention names of people who were with them, those can be used as witnesses.
These are people who have been imprisoned together, or given as gifts or sold to Daesh members, or have been in sexual slavery together.
The victims fill out an application form. We take their statement, and if they need a medical checkup we send them to hospital. We have a psychological unit that listens to the stories and makes a recommendation about further medical treatment needed.
In Azadi Hospital [Dukok] a team of psychiatrists will then follow the victims. The medical and psychological reports and documents can all be used as evidence.
How many people have you seen up to now?
We cannot give numbers [and] because it is a very sensitive, we work in secrecy. We can say that we have more than 200 people who have finished all the procedures. We have about 300 people waiting in the queue. We work slowly, in order not to leave out any details of crime. We don’t have a time limit or even a deadline.
How did the commission develop its methods of work?
We don’t have our own system. We get benefit from the experiences in Rwanda, Kosovo and Darfur [where genocides were committed]. We are following some of the procedures that have been proven there to be useful.
We are working for the High Commission for Identification of Genocide Crimes in Erbil, headed by Mahmmud Haji, the minister of Martyrs and Anfal, and monthly report to them. If we face an obstacle, we ask them to solve it.
Last month, we had information about possible sites of mass graves. As our commission does not have the tools or the staff, the ministry sent its specialized team. We have dozens of remains of bodies at the crime scene. They are collected and sent to Azadi Hospital for DNA tests to identify them.
Who is going to use the evidence that you are collecting?
Our duty will be over when we finish the gathering and documenting. The phase after that is for the High Commission. It is trying to confront the international community, the United Nations and the [UN] Security Council members with the evidence of the crimes that have been committed.
Could the evidence be used for a case in front of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague?
That depends on the UN Security Council. It can decide to transfer the case to The Hague.
Why is it so importance to get the recognition that a genocide was committed against the Yezidis?
The Yezidis have a different religion from Muslims, but we are one nation. We are Kurds. The Kurdish nation faced many crimes throughout the history, but none of them has been identified as genocide by the international community.
We want to avoid this from happening again, and avoid the mistakes we made concerning Hababja, Anfal and the crimes against the Barzanis, which have been recognized by national courts as genocide, but not internationally.
As these cases have been tried by national courts, it is impossible to try the accused twice as a rule of law.
At the time of Halabja, we were a nation without institutions, government or relations with the international community. We did not have the tools and capabilities to identify those crimes as genocide. Now we have them.
A recognition of the oppression our nation underwent through the modern history of the establishment of Iraqi Republic, would be of benefit to our nation in the future, for our independence, and to get the rights we are seeking.
Does your work only cover the Yezidi victims?
Christians are also claiming genocide has been committed against their people.
Our commission is covering crimes committed against civilians in the regions outside the administration of the KRG, which means also the Christian ones. But no Christians visited our commission or posted any complaints.
They do know about us, they are welcome - and why they do not come I do not know. If they do, we will register their case, in the same procedure as the others.
But according to my personal opinion, with my regard to everyone who lost their beloved as a result of Daesh crimes, the gravity of the crimes the Christians have been subjected is not the same as of those committed against Yezidis.
They have been given an opportunity to leave, and take their belongings and resort to a safe place. Not like the Yezidis, who have been deceived by Daesh and the Arab villagers who told them they would be safe as Daesh was only chasing the Peshmerga.
Christians had the opportunity to pay Jizya, [a special tax] or to leave or to convert. They had more options, and most of them survived. Although we cannot ignore their ordeal [they suffered being removed] from land they inhabited for centuries.
Some Yezidis are negative toward the Kurdish authorities; do they trust the commission enough to come forward with their complaints?
We have a legal duty, and we are not interfering in any issues related to politics. If people did not trust us, they would not have come. We don’t have outreach teams, so any person who wants to come is welcome. We work slowly and focus on details, on the quality and not on the quantity.
Does the commission also collect evidence about the role of perpetrators?
We don’t focus on the suspects. If we did and we would issue warrants of arrest and put the suspect in custody, we would have to refer him to the court for trial.
But this is not within our mandates as an investigation team ... According to the Statute of Rome, the ICC cannot investigate any crimes if the investigation has already been completed by a national court.
We just want to collect the evidence now, so it is not lost.
The commission will draw on crimes committed in Kosovo, Rwanda and Darfurin order to prevent the mistakes of the past, said Judge Ayman Mostafa, who since September has been chief of the Investigation and Evidence Commission in the Kurdish city of Duhok.
Mostafa, 38 , studied in forensic criminology in the UK and public policy in South Korea. After 15 years as a criminal investigator, he is now a judge of Deralook First Instance Court.
As Mostafa pointed out, the Anfal campaign carried out against the Kurds by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has not been officially declared a genocide by the international community because of lost evidence and procedural errors.
But this time, he said, the KRG aims to have the Islamic State’s crimes against the Yezidis recognized for what they are.
Rudaw: What is the Investigation and Evidence Commission doing exactly?
Ayman Mostafa: We are working to gather and document the evidence that recognizes and identifies the crimes committed by Daesh [the Arabic acronym for Islamic State] members against the civilians in Shingal and surrounding areas, everything that might be identified as genocide and crimes against humanity.
As we are not a court, we do not determine whether genocide has been committed. We depend on the statements of victims and eye witnesses.
The victims come to register a complaint against Daesh members and we record the details of their suffering during the abductions, attempted murder, sexual enslavement, rape, displacement, forced conversion to Islam and child soldiers.
When victims mention names of people who were with them, those can be used as witnesses.
These are people who have been imprisoned together, or given as gifts or sold to Daesh members, or have been in sexual slavery together.
The victims fill out an application form. We take their statement, and if they need a medical checkup we send them to hospital. We have a psychological unit that listens to the stories and makes a recommendation about further medical treatment needed.
In Azadi Hospital [Dukok] a team of psychiatrists will then follow the victims. The medical and psychological reports and documents can all be used as evidence.
How many people have you seen up to now?
We cannot give numbers [and] because it is a very sensitive, we work in secrecy. We can say that we have more than 200 people who have finished all the procedures. We have about 300 people waiting in the queue. We work slowly, in order not to leave out any details of crime. We don’t have a time limit or even a deadline.
How did the commission develop its methods of work?
We don’t have our own system. We get benefit from the experiences in Rwanda, Kosovo and Darfur [where genocides were committed]. We are following some of the procedures that have been proven there to be useful.
We are working for the High Commission for Identification of Genocide Crimes in Erbil, headed by Mahmmud Haji, the minister of Martyrs and Anfal, and monthly report to them. If we face an obstacle, we ask them to solve it.
Last month, we had information about possible sites of mass graves. As our commission does not have the tools or the staff, the ministry sent its specialized team. We have dozens of remains of bodies at the crime scene. They are collected and sent to Azadi Hospital for DNA tests to identify them.
Who is going to use the evidence that you are collecting?
Our duty will be over when we finish the gathering and documenting. The phase after that is for the High Commission. It is trying to confront the international community, the United Nations and the [UN] Security Council members with the evidence of the crimes that have been committed.
Could the evidence be used for a case in front of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague?
That depends on the UN Security Council. It can decide to transfer the case to The Hague.
Why is it so importance to get the recognition that a genocide was committed against the Yezidis?
The Yezidis have a different religion from Muslims, but we are one nation. We are Kurds. The Kurdish nation faced many crimes throughout the history, but none of them has been identified as genocide by the international community.
We want to avoid this from happening again, and avoid the mistakes we made concerning Hababja, Anfal and the crimes against the Barzanis, which have been recognized by national courts as genocide, but not internationally.
As these cases have been tried by national courts, it is impossible to try the accused twice as a rule of law.
At the time of Halabja, we were a nation without institutions, government or relations with the international community. We did not have the tools and capabilities to identify those crimes as genocide. Now we have them.
A recognition of the oppression our nation underwent through the modern history of the establishment of Iraqi Republic, would be of benefit to our nation in the future, for our independence, and to get the rights we are seeking.
Does your work only cover the Yezidi victims?
Christians are also claiming genocide has been committed against their people.
Our commission is covering crimes committed against civilians in the regions outside the administration of the KRG, which means also the Christian ones. But no Christians visited our commission or posted any complaints.
They do know about us, they are welcome - and why they do not come I do not know. If they do, we will register their case, in the same procedure as the others.
But according to my personal opinion, with my regard to everyone who lost their beloved as a result of Daesh crimes, the gravity of the crimes the Christians have been subjected is not the same as of those committed against Yezidis.
They have been given an opportunity to leave, and take their belongings and resort to a safe place. Not like the Yezidis, who have been deceived by Daesh and the Arab villagers who told them they would be safe as Daesh was only chasing the Peshmerga.
Christians had the opportunity to pay Jizya, [a special tax] or to leave or to convert. They had more options, and most of them survived. Although we cannot ignore their ordeal [they suffered being removed] from land they inhabited for centuries.
Some Yezidis are negative toward the Kurdish authorities; do they trust the commission enough to come forward with their complaints?
We have a legal duty, and we are not interfering in any issues related to politics. If people did not trust us, they would not have come. We don’t have outreach teams, so any person who wants to come is welcome. We work slowly and focus on details, on the quality and not on the quantity.
Does the commission also collect evidence about the role of perpetrators?
We don’t focus on the suspects. If we did and we would issue warrants of arrest and put the suspect in custody, we would have to refer him to the court for trial.
But this is not within our mandates as an investigation team ... According to the Statute of Rome, the ICC cannot investigate any crimes if the investigation has already been completed by a national court.
We just want to collect the evidence now, so it is not lost.