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​​​​​​​Political Considerations Prevent Fair Trials For ISIS

In early March, the Special Criminal Court sentenced a French woman returning from Syria to 10 years in prison, after 5 years she spent among ISIS mercenaries, and she was arrested in 2018.

 In early March, the Danish judiciary sentenced a woman named “Elmina Alijic” to 4 years in prison, who entered Syria with her husband, who is a member of ISIS mercenaries, and stayed in the city of Raqqa during the presence of ISIS.

 In 2021, the Danish authorities received three women and 14 children from the Syrian Democratic Forces, one of whom was sentenced a year ago to 3 years in prison.

This was preceded by numerous trials of ISIS affiliates, but lawyers familiar with the matter say they were not fair proceedings.

 Adding political dimensions to the issue

The Syrian Kurdish lawyer, Mustafa Sheikh Muslim, who is involved  in this file, said that: “Until now, we have not seen any case of a fair trial to which members of ISIS have been subjected, which exhausted the efforts of the whole world, until its elimination, which has not been completely completed today, as it is still  efforts are continuing on the part of the international coalition with the security forces in northern and eastern Syria and Iraq to eliminate it.

 And Sheikh Muslim added: “When these people return, we see that they are not subject to trials. On the contrary, in every country a measure below the required level is applied, as the issue is given more political dimensions than there are legal dimensions befitting what their hands committed, whether in  Kobani or Şengal and countless other massacres, all these heinous acts, took place at the hands of those who pass unnoticed in the courts of their countries.

 It is legal to establish an international tribunal in northern and eastern Syria

 He stressed, “This is the main reason that prompts the SDF to demand the establishment of international courts here on the Syrian geography, in application of the legal principle that takes into account the location of the crime according to the spatial and geographical element. Therefore, it is legal to establish an international court here in north and east Syria and subject them to it in accordance with the international laws in force in Syria.”  All countries of the world have unified laws for everyone, regardless of their nationalities and affiliations.

And Sheikh Muslim said, “Each country, if it judges its citizens on its own, it is natural to see large differences between the rulings, and they have been uneven for many years. Perhaps affiliation with ISIS is punishable in the constitution of the United States of America as secular and civil, but at the same time, it is absolutely not punishable in the constitution of a country such as Pakistan or another country and others of a religious nature.

 He pointed out, “Hence comes the necessity to find a unified court to which all members of ISIS are subject, with unified laws, legislation, and provisions.”

 Explicit contradiction.. Trial of internationalists who fought ISIS is useless

 And if the issue of trials of ISIS mercenaries and international fighters who came from several countries around the world to fight alongside the People’s Protection Units YPG, the Women’s Protection Units YPJ, and the Syrian Democratic Forces against ISIS is linked, an incomplete circle can be seen.

 In Germany in particular, the authorities pursued citizens who had returned from fighting against ISIS in Syria;  This sparked widespread anger in northern and eastern Syria.

 Sheikh Muslim said: “Even this point has more political dimensions than legal dimensions, because these young men who came from all over the world in response to the general mobilization call launched by the People’s Protection Units in several battles, especially the battles of Kobani, came from a humanitarian standpoint; their goal  protection of these areas, and they did not come for personal benefit, but when they return to their countries they face trials that were never envisaged, given that the coming from a country comes based on legislation to which the countries originally involved in the international coalition that works side by side with these forces are subject  actors on the ground.

I mean, there is an incomplete circle here, which is the political visions whose citizens are subjected to sham trials that are useless, other than to satisfy the supporters of ISIS in the first place, led by Turkey, which has repeatedly stated that it stands against all assistance provided to the regions of northern and eastern Syria.

 He added: “From this standpoint, we can say that these trials are mostly political, because that is an explicit and clear contradiction to which the country itself is subject, which is directly involved in an international coalition that works side by side with these active forces on the ground and at the same time prosecutes its citizens and holders of nationalities to participate and engage with these forces on the ground and take up arms.”

 Paris massacres.. The perpetrators of massacres against the Kurds are not subject to judicial justice

 When combining the two aforementioned topics, and the case of the assassination of Kurdish activists and politicians in the French capital, Paris, a great contradiction can be seen in the course of justice, which many believe is not fair to the Kurds.

 In 2013, when the three Kurdish activists, Sakina Cansiz, Fidan Dogan, and Leyla Shaylmes were assassinated, the French judicial procedures did not rise to the level of revealing the full circumstances of the crime, at a time when the Turkish intelligence was directly accused of involvement in the commission of this crime.  massacre.

 The French “cover-up”, as many called it, contributed to the repetition of the massacres against the Kurds when a person attacked a Kurdish cultural center in the center of Paris in December 2022, and the attack caused the death of 3 people.

However, the French judiciary refused to describe the incident as a terrorist attack, and claimed that it was racially motivated. The backgrounds and full details were not delved into, as the Kurdish street re-pointed the finger of accusation at the Turkish intelligence.

 The French authorities decided to lift the decision to detain the perpetrator of the attack and transfer him to a police psychiatric hospital, which represents a distortion of the course of the case, which observers saw as being carefully studied to target the Kurds, with Turkey standing behind it.

Sheikh Muslim confirmed that in the two massacres: “The crime was obscured by flimsy pretexts and justifications, and it was dyed with a legal color.  any case if requested.

 He added: “The French judiciary is known among the judicial bodies in the world as one of the most fair and impartial agencies, if we are fair in describing it, but these two cases question this theory to a large extent. We have not seen results that heal the grievances and shed light on the perpetrators, their motives and their desires from these actions.”  Which claimed the lives of innocents and unarmed civilians who did not think that they would be subjected to a terrorist attack.

 Sheikh Muslim affirmed, “These data indicate that the French judiciary is not neutral in dealing with these issues that represent peoples and not specific people. Rather, they are political issues between an oppressed people throughout history and an intelligence agency that seeks with all its might to liquidate and strike them wherever they are.”

 “The perpetrators had to be exposed so that the targeted people would be aware of what is being plotted against them and beware of similar attacks within France or the entire European Union, as this incident is the second of its kind and the perpetrators are the same and the victims are the same,” he said.

 Sheikh Muslim indicated the necessity of “forming a pressure force, or as it is known as a lobby for the Kurds, with the aim of addressing decision-makers and security services within the countries that contain the Kurds, in this way we can at least ensure that the Kurds are not subjected to crimes that go unnoticed, as happened in the two massacres in Paris.”

 Source: Hawar News

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