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Kurdistan
From left: head of UNITAD, Christian Ritscher, and KRG PM Masrour Barzani. Date: November 3, 2021. Photo: Handout
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani received the new head of United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Daesh (UNITAD) on Wednesday to discuss trying members of the Islamic State (ISIS) and the digitization of the group’s crimes.
Christian Ritscher, the new head of UNITAD, and PM Barzani discussed “the latest legal and technical challenges in trying ISIS criminals, digitally archiving their crimes and relations between courts in Kurdistan Region and Iraq,” according to a statement from Barzani’s office.
Barzani emphasized the “importance of UNITAD backing KRG criminal trials against ISIS terrorists,” added the statement, using the acronym for the Kurdistan Regional Government.
UNITAD also said in a tweet that both sides touched on the operational cooperation in investigations “including archiving & digitizing evidence of #ISIL crimes in Iraq.”
The KRG in April proposed setting up a court in Erbil to try ISIS suspects, but that was rejected by Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court in June. Iraq has come under fire for its prosecution of suspected ISIS members. International observers have expressed concern about unfair trials.
ISIS swept through Iraq and neighbouring Syria in 2014, imposing its so-called caliphate rule with extreme violence. Among the group’s crimes are “executions, torture, amputations, ethno-sectarian attacks, rape and sexual slavery imposed on women and girls,” according to UNITAD. Iraq in 2017 asked the UN to help collect and preserve evidence of ISIS crimes.
The UN Security Council in September renewed UNITAD’s mandate to investigate crimes committed by ISIS in Iraq for another year. The KRG welcomed the decision.
Christian Ritscher, the new head of UNITAD, and PM Barzani discussed “the latest legal and technical challenges in trying ISIS criminals, digitally archiving their crimes and relations between courts in Kurdistan Region and Iraq,” according to a statement from Barzani’s office.
Barzani emphasized the “importance of UNITAD backing KRG criminal trials against ISIS terrorists,” added the statement, using the acronym for the Kurdistan Regional Government.
UNITAD also said in a tweet that both sides touched on the operational cooperation in investigations “including archiving & digitizing evidence of #ISIL crimes in Iraq.”
The KRG in April proposed setting up a court in Erbil to try ISIS suspects, but that was rejected by Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court in June. Iraq has come under fire for its prosecution of suspected ISIS members. International observers have expressed concern about unfair trials.
ISIS swept through Iraq and neighbouring Syria in 2014, imposing its so-called caliphate rule with extreme violence. Among the group’s crimes are “executions, torture, amputations, ethno-sectarian attacks, rape and sexual slavery imposed on women and girls,” according to UNITAD. Iraq in 2017 asked the UN to help collect and preserve evidence of ISIS crimes.
The UN Security Council in September renewed UNITAD’s mandate to investigate crimes committed by ISIS in Iraq for another year. The KRG welcomed the decision.
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