CIJA Issues Press Release on Slain Islamic State Leader
The United States of America confirmed the death of the leader of Islamic State terrorist organisation (‘IS’) Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi AKA “Hajji Abdullah” today, 3 February 2022, at approximately 00H00 local Syrian time.
The Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA) conducted investigations into atrocities authored by Hajji Abdullah, whose real name is Amir Muhammad Sa’id Abdal-Rahman al-Mawla, since 2015. Evidence amassed by the non-governmental organisation through investigations on the ground in Syria and Iraq showed his potential criminal responsibility for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and other offences such as human trafficking.
Hajji Abdullah, who had a bounty of up to USD $10 million on his head for information leading to his capture, was a high-ranking IS member who succeeded Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as the Caliph of IS following the latter’s death during a US military operation in October 2019.
Prior to that, Hajji Abdullah was a member of the IS Delegated Committee, the group’s senior executive body. A trove of evidence gathered by the non-governmental organisation CIJA over a number of years shows how he served as IS’s senior judge and Sharia law official in Iraq from 2014, exercising religious authority over all IS activity across that country. By April 2015, he was widely known as a deputy to Al-Baghdadi. He was designated by both the United Nations and the United States of America as a wanted terrorist for his role.
According to Nerma Jelacic, Deputy Director of CIJA, “Hajji Abdullah had enormous power to persecute and punish IS’s enemies as far back as 2014. Not only was he one of the key architects of the Islamic State slave trade in Yazidi women and children, he personally enslaved and raped captive women.”
CIJA believes it had gathered sufficient evidence to accuse Hajji Abdullah of genocide, extermination, slavery, rape, gender-based persecution, and a host of other crimes. As a Delegated Committee member and one of the group’s senior ideologues, Hajji Abdullah was responsible for all Yazidi prisoners held in Iraq after they had been captured during IS’s Sinjar military operation in August 2014. In this capacity, he oversaw the distribution of Yazidi women, together with young children, to IS members as sabaya (female spoils of war). Moreover, he was responsible for forced conversions of those it considered to be infidels to Islam and the massacre of hundreds of Yazidi men and boys.
Believed to be of Turkmen origins, Amir Muhammad Sa’id Abdal-Rahman al-Mawla was an Iraqi national born in October 1976. Hajji Abdullah was a religious scholar in IS’s former incarnations, Al-Qaeda in Iraq and Islamic State in Iraq, during the 2000s and was detained between 2008 and 2011 at Camp Bucca. He was thought to have been wounded in an airstrike, resulting in the amputation of his leg by late 2014.
Notes to Editors:
The Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA) is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation dedicated to furthering criminal justice efforts through investigations, in order to prevent the loss and destruction of vital evidence for the purpose of supporting prosecutorial efforts to end impunity, whether at the domestic or international level.
To date, CIJA has:
Completed 24 structural investigations and legal briefs identifying dozens of high-ranking Syrian Regime and Islamic State suspects;
Secured over 1,000,000 pages of documents generated by the parties within the Syrian regime and the Islamic State;
Interviewed over 3,000 witnesses including defectors, individuals with direct knowledge of perpetrating parties and their structures as well as victims.
CIJA is apolitical and carries out its investigative activities independently of any government. CIJA currently works to support prosecutions in 13 countries and assists 37 law enforcement and counter-terrorism organisations globally.
The United States of America confirmed the death of the leader of Islamic State terrorist organisation (‘IS’) Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi AKA “Hajji Abdullah” today, 3 February 2022, at approximately 00H00 local Syrian time.
The Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA) conducted investigations into atrocities authored by Hajji Abdullah, whose real name is Amir Muhammad Sa’id Abdal-Rahman al-Mawla, since 2015. Evidence amassed by the non-governmental organisation through investigations on the ground in Syria and Iraq showed his potential criminal responsibility for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and other offences such as human trafficking.
Hajji Abdullah, who had a bounty of up to USD $10 million on his head for information leading to his capture, was a high-ranking IS member who succeeded Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as the Caliph of IS following the latter’s death during a US military operation in October 2019.
Prior to that, Hajji Abdullah was a member of the IS Delegated Committee, the group’s senior executive body. A trove of evidence gathered by the non-governmental organisation CIJA over a number of years shows how he served as IS’s senior judge and Sharia law official in Iraq from 2014, exercising religious authority over all IS activity across that country. By April 2015, he was widely known as a deputy to Al-Baghdadi. He was designated by both the United Nations and the United States of America as a wanted terrorist for his role.
According to Nerma Jelacic, Deputy Director of CIJA, “Hajji Abdullah had enormous power to persecute and punish IS’s enemies as far back as 2014. Not only was he one of the key architects of the Islamic State slave trade in Yazidi women and children, he personally enslaved and raped captive women.”
CIJA believes it had gathered sufficient evidence to accuse Hajji Abdullah of genocide, extermination, slavery, rape, gender-based persecution, and a host of other crimes. As a Delegated Committee member and one of the group’s senior ideologues, Hajji Abdullah was responsible for all Yazidi prisoners held in Iraq after they had been captured during IS’s Sinjar military operation in August 2014. In this capacity, he oversaw the distribution of Yazidi women, together with young children, to IS members as sabaya (female spoils of war). Moreover, he was responsible for forced conversions of those it considered to be infidels to Islam and the massacre of hundreds of Yazidi men and boys.
Believed to be of Turkmen origins, Amir Muhammad Sa’id Abdal-Rahman al-Mawla was an Iraqi national born in October 1976. Hajji Abdullah was a religious scholar in IS’s former incarnations, Al-Qaeda in Iraq and Islamic State in Iraq, during the 2000s and was detained between 2008 and 2011 at Camp Bucca. He was thought to have been wounded in an airstrike, resulting in the amputation of his leg by late 2014.
Notes to Editors:
The Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA) is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation dedicated to furthering criminal justice efforts through investigations, in order to prevent the loss and destruction of vital evidence for the purpose of supporting prosecutorial efforts to end impunity, whether at the domestic or international level.
To date, CIJA has:
Completed 24 structural investigations and legal briefs identifying dozens of high-ranking Syrian Regime and Islamic State suspects;
Secured over 1,000,000 pages of documents generated by the parties within the Syrian regime and the Islamic State;
Interviewed over 3,000 witnesses including defectors, individuals with direct knowledge of perpetrating parties and their structures as well as victims.
CIJA is apolitical and carries out its investigative activities independently of any government. CIJA currently works to support prosecutions in 13 countries and assists 37 law enforcement and counter-terrorism organisations globally.
Koblenz Court Issues Verdict in the Case of Anwar Raslan
On 13 January, the Higher Regional Court in Koblenz, Germany found Anwar Raslan, a former colonel in the Syrian regime, guilty of co-perpetration of crimes against humanity in the form of torture, murder in 27 cases, assault in 25 cases, in addition to several counts of rape and sexual assault. The verdict carries a custodial sentence of life imprisonment. Raslan is so far the highest-ranking Syrian official convicted for crimes against humanity committed in the course of the Syrian conflict.
Raslan is convicted for his conduct as Head of Interrogations at Branch 251 of Syria’s General Intelligence Directorate between April 2011 and September 2012. Insider witnesses have described the branch as the most effective, dangerous and secretive branch of General Intelligence.
The court’s decision constitutes a landmark judgement, the significance of which extends far beyond the specifics of the individual case. The court has found that the crimes under examination were committed as part of the Syrian government’s widespread and systematic attack against its civilian population, which began in the early days of the country’s 2011 popular uprising.
CIJA has assisted the German Federal Police investigation of this case since 2017 and the prosecution since Raslan's arrest in 2019. This assistance drew on CIJA’s unprecedented evidence archive, secured by its investigators in Syria, and came in the form of documentary evidence, insider witness interviews as well as expert testimony. Of particular relevance to the case were over 600 documents linked to Branch 251, including General Intelligence directives and interrogation reports, some bearing Raslan's signature, as well as 13 interviews with former Branch employees. Further, CIJA was able to provide authorities with documentation and insider witness interviews about Raslan’s tenure as Head of Interrogations at a different General Intelligence branch - Branch 285, where abuse and torture have been documented.
In November 2020, CIJA’s Director of Operations and Investigations testified as an expert witness before the court in Koblenz. In an extensive two-day testimony, CIJA provided a thorough contextual analysis of the regime’s security-intelligence apparatus and its widespread and systematic use of torture in detention, the role of Branch 251 in suppressing dissent as well as Raslan’s individual criminal responsibility. The complex expert testimony drew on hundreds of CIJA-secured documents, which were entered into evidence at the request of the judges. In the course of over a hundred days of trial hearings, CIJA-secured evidence, analysis and testimony have been continuously referenced.
“This conviction is a critically important measure of justice for the survivors and victims of the Syrian regime. CIJA is honored to see its evidence was a foundational part of this historic conviction. As our investigators continue collecting evidence of Assad’s atrocities and tracking regime officials in Europe, we expect to see more such trials in the near future. Our thoughts are with our Syrian colleagues whose selfless work behind the scenes of the world’s most dangerous conflict continues to feed investigations and prosecutions in Europe.”
– Nerma Jelacic, CIJA Director for Management and External Relations
This is the second judgement addressing state-sponsored torture in Syria following the 2021 verdict in the case of Eyad, A, a former Syrian security-service agent and associate of Anwar Raslan at Branch 251, who was found guilty of aiding and abetting 30 counts of crimes against humanity committed in Damascus.
CIJA has been investigating crimes committed in Syria since 2012. Since then, its teams of Syrian investigators have amassed over 1,000,000 pages of Syrian regime documentation constituting the largest cache of documentary evidence ever secured in the course of an ongoing conflict. To date, CIJA’s analysts have answered over 600 requests for assistance from public authorities concerning over 2,000 individual targets. CIJA is currently cooperating with 15 ongoing investigations and provides continuous support to 36 law enforcement agencies from 13 countries.
On 13 January, the Higher Regional Court in Koblenz, Germany found Anwar Raslan, a former colonel in the Syrian regime, guilty of co-perpetration of crimes against humanity in the form of torture, murder in 27 cases, assault in 25 cases, in addition to several counts of rape and sexual assault. The verdict carries a custodial sentence of life imprisonment. Raslan is so far the highest-ranking Syrian official convicted for crimes against humanity committed in the course of the Syrian conflict.
Raslan is convicted for his conduct as Head of Interrogations at Branch 251 of Syria’s General Intelligence Directorate between April 2011 and September 2012. Insider witnesses have described the branch as the most effective, dangerous and secretive branch of General Intelligence.
The court’s decision constitutes a landmark judgement, the significance of which extends far beyond the specifics of the individual case. The court has found that the crimes under examination were committed as part of the Syrian government’s widespread and systematic attack against its civilian population, which began in the early days of the country’s 2011 popular uprising.
CIJA has assisted the German Federal Police investigation of this case since 2017 and the prosecution since Raslan's arrest in 2019. This assistance drew on CIJA’s unprecedented evidence archive, secured by its investigators in Syria, and came in the form of documentary evidence, insider witness interviews as well as expert testimony. Of particular relevance to the case were over 600 documents linked to Branch 251, including General Intelligence directives and interrogation reports, some bearing Raslan's signature, as well as 13 interviews with former Branch employees. Further, CIJA was able to provide authorities with documentation and insider witness interviews about Raslan’s tenure as Head of Interrogations at a different General Intelligence branch - Branch 285, where abuse and torture have been documented.
In November 2020, CIJA’s Director of Operations and Investigations testified as an expert witness before the court in Koblenz. In an extensive two-day testimony, CIJA provided a thorough contextual analysis of the regime’s security-intelligence apparatus and its widespread and systematic use of torture in detention, the role of Branch 251 in suppressing dissent as well as Raslan’s individual criminal responsibility. The complex expert testimony drew on hundreds of CIJA-secured documents, which were entered into evidence at the request of the judges. In the course of over a hundred days of trial hearings, CIJA-secured evidence, analysis and testimony have been continuously referenced.
“This conviction is a critically important measure of justice for the survivors and victims of the Syrian regime. CIJA is honored to see its evidence was a foundational part of this historic conviction. As our investigators continue collecting evidence of Assad’s atrocities and tracking regime officials in Europe, we expect to see more such trials in the near future. Our thoughts are with our Syrian colleagues whose selfless work behind the scenes of the world’s most dangerous conflict continues to feed investigations and prosecutions in Europe.”
– Nerma Jelacic, CIJA Director for Management and External Relations
This is the second judgement addressing state-sponsored torture in Syria following the 2021 verdict in the case of Eyad, A, a former Syrian security-service agent and associate of Anwar Raslan at Branch 251, who was found guilty of aiding and abetting 30 counts of crimes against humanity committed in Damascus.
CIJA has been investigating crimes committed in Syria since 2012. Since then, its teams of Syrian investigators have amassed over 1,000,000 pages of Syrian regime documentation constituting the largest cache of documentary evidence ever secured in the course of an ongoing conflict. To date, CIJA’s analysts have answered over 600 requests for assistance from public authorities concerning over 2,000 individual targets. CIJA is currently cooperating with 15 ongoing investigations and provides continuous support to 36 law enforcement agencies from 13 countries.
Wie der österreichische Verfassungsschutz Assads Schreckensgeneral versteckte
Der Spiegel reports on the failure of Austrian authorities to investigate and prosecute the highest-ranking Syrian regime member suspected of crimes against humanity and at large in Europe.
Read the full story here.
Der Spiegel reports on the failure of Austrian authorities to investigate and prosecute the highest-ranking Syrian regime member suspected of crimes against humanity and at large in Europe.
Read the full story here.
How a Syrian War Criminal and Double Agent Disappeared in Europe
The New Yorker investigates the circumstances surrounding the case of Khaled al-Halabi, the highest-ranking Syrian regime member suspected of crimes against humanity and known to be in Europe.
Read the full story here.
The New Yorker investigates the circumstances surrounding the case of Khaled al-Halabi, the highest-ranking Syrian regime member suspected of crimes against humanity and known to be in Europe.
Read the full story here.
CIJA Publishes its 2020-2021 Annual Report
CIJA is proud to present its 2020-2021 annual report and impressive achievements in evidence collection and support to criminal justice actors between April 2020 and March 2021. Along with a detailed outline of CIJA’s operational results, the report offers a comprehensive overview of our six-year programme in Northern Iraq, which concluded successfully in March 2021. To mark the extraordinary work of its Islamic State teams, CIJA is, for the first time, sharing summaries of key legal briefs in its collection showcasing the wealth of evidence collected during the course of CIJA operations in Northern Iraq and Syria.
CIJA is proud to present its 2020-2021 annual report and impressive achievements in evidence collection and support to criminal justice actors between April 2020 and March 2021. Along with a detailed outline of CIJA’s operational results, the report offers a comprehensive overview of our six-year programme in Northern Iraq, which concluded successfully in March 2021. To mark the extraordinary work of its Islamic State teams, CIJA is, for the first time, sharing summaries of key legal briefs in its collection showcasing the wealth of evidence collected during the course of CIJA operations in Northern Iraq and Syria.
Spinning Bomb
In an in-depth piece for Index on Censorship, CIJA Director Nerma Jelacic dissects the logic of revisionism, the institutions that enable it, and the perils of leaving disinformation and war crimes denialism unchallenged.
Read the article here
In an in-depth piece for Index on Censorship, CIJA Director Nerma Jelacic dissects the logic of revisionism, the institutions that enable it, and the perils of leaving disinformation and war crimes denialism unchallenged.
Read the article here
CIJA Senior Advisor Stephanie Barbour contributes to symposium on conflict-related sexual violence
CIJA Senior Sexual and Gender-based Violence Advisor Stephanie Barbour has contributed to a symposium on conflict-related sexual violence jointly hosted by the UN Team of Experts on Rule of Law and Sexual Violence in Conflict and OpinioJuris. Drawing on her recent article in the Journal of International Criminal Justice, Barbour discusses CIJA’s investigative and analytical approaches to Islamic State enslavement practices.
Part I of the blog post explores innovations, lessons learned, and good practices from CIJA’s investigation into the IS slave trade. Barbour addresses the challenges of investigating the slave trade of women and children by IS in Northern Iraq and Syria and outlines the elements of CIJA´s large-scale situational investigation model, which enabled the collection of critical multi-layered, corroborative evidence of IS enslavement practices.
In Part II, Barbour discusses CIJA’s approach to the legal characterisation of IS enslavement practices and the importance of these labels for capturing the multiple harms that have been inflicted on victims. Barbour follows with an appraisal of recent prosecutorial approaches to SGBV charging in extraterritorial cases concerning IS and Syrian Regime crimes, including in the Al-Khatib trial in Koblenz, Germany. The two-part post closes by emphasising the importance of continued exchanges between investigators and prosecutors working across jurisdictions on how to make the best use of available evidence and find appropriate legal qualifications for the multiplicity of SGBV-related crimes observed in the Syria and Iraq conflicts.
The symposium builds on a recent discussion hosted by the UN Team of Experts held in January 2021 and entitled “The importance of a label: understanding the impunity gap for conflict-related sexual violence crimes associated with slavery and trafficking”.
Read Part I here: Innovations, Lessons Learned, and Good Practices From CIJA’s Investigation Into the Slave Trade
Read Part II here: Key findings of CIJA’s Investigation into the IS Slave Trade
CIJA Senior Sexual and Gender-based Violence Advisor Stephanie Barbour has contributed to a symposium on conflict-related sexual violence jointly hosted by the UN Team of Experts on Rule of Law and Sexual Violence in Conflict and OpinioJuris. Drawing on her recent article in the Journal of International Criminal Justice, Barbour discusses CIJA’s investigative and analytical approaches to Islamic State enslavement practices.
Part I of the blog post explores innovations, lessons learned, and good practices from CIJA’s investigation into the IS slave trade. Barbour addresses the challenges of investigating the slave trade of women and children by IS in Northern Iraq and Syria and outlines the elements of CIJA´s large-scale situational investigation model, which enabled the collection of critical multi-layered, corroborative evidence of IS enslavement practices.
In Part II, Barbour discusses CIJA’s approach to the legal characterisation of IS enslavement practices and the importance of these labels for capturing the multiple harms that have been inflicted on victims. Barbour follows with an appraisal of recent prosecutorial approaches to SGBV charging in extraterritorial cases concerning IS and Syrian Regime crimes, including in the Al-Khatib trial in Koblenz, Germany. The two-part post closes by emphasising the importance of continued exchanges between investigators and prosecutors working across jurisdictions on how to make the best use of available evidence and find appropriate legal qualifications for the multiplicity of SGBV-related crimes observed in the Syria and Iraq conflicts.
The symposium builds on a recent discussion hosted by the UN Team of Experts held in January 2021 and entitled “The importance of a label: understanding the impunity gap for conflict-related sexual violence crimes associated with slavery and trafficking”.
Read Part I here: Innovations, Lessons Learned, and Good Practices From CIJA’s Investigation Into the Slave Trade
Read Part II here: Key findings of CIJA’s Investigation into the IS Slave Trade
Berlin Group 21, 'Ivan's' Emails and Chemical Weapons Conspiracy Theories
Supported by the findings of CIJA’s probe into Syria disinformation networks, Bellingcat reports on the working methods of yet another group in the far-reaching web of actors targeting Syria accountability groups – Berlin Group 21. Read more about the latest revelations stemming from CIJA’s investigation here.
Supported by the findings of CIJA’s probe into Syria disinformation networks, Bellingcat reports on the working methods of yet another group in the far-reaching web of actors targeting Syria accountability groups – Berlin Group 21. Read more about the latest revelations stemming from CIJA’s investigation here.
CIJA on the Foreign Office Podcast
CIJA Director Nerma Jelacic speaks to Michael Weiss about the motivation behind CIJA’s investigation into a Russian-back disinformation network on Syria and discusses the significance of its findings.
Listen here
CIJA Director Nerma Jelacic speaks to Michael Weiss about the motivation behind CIJA’s investigation into a Russian-back disinformation network on Syria and discusses the significance of its findings.
Listen here
How an Email Sting Operation Unearthed a pro-Assad Conspiracy—and Russia’s Role In It
Newlines Magazine has published an extensive report on the web of actors uncovered by CIJA to be part of a highly orchestrated disinformation campaign against the OPCW and their investigations into war crimes in Syria.
Read Michael Weiss and Jett Goldsmith’s reporting on CIJA’s probe into the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and the Media and their allies in Russian diplomatic missions around the world and lawyers working at the heart of international justice institutions.
Newlines Magazine has published an extensive report on the web of actors uncovered by CIJA to be part of a highly orchestrated disinformation campaign against the OPCW and their investigations into war crimes in Syria.
Read Michael Weiss and Jett Goldsmith’s reporting on CIJA’s probe into the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and the Media and their allies in Russian diplomatic missions around the world and lawyers working at the heart of international justice institutions.
Syria Chemical-Attack Deniers Admit Links to WikiLeaks and Russia
The Daily Beast reports on further findings of CIJA’s probe into the so-called Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and the Media’s disinformation campaign against organisations collecting battlefield evidence of war crimes in Syria – OPCW, White Helmets, and now CIJA.
Read Michael Weiss and Jett Goldsmith’s exposé to find out how their efforts were coordinated with Russian diplomats and aided by WikiLeaks and Hague-based lawyers.
The Daily Beast reports on further findings of CIJA’s probe into the so-called Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and the Media’s disinformation campaign against organisations collecting battlefield evidence of war crimes in Syria – OPCW, White Helmets, and now CIJA.
Read Michael Weiss and Jett Goldsmith’s exposé to find out how their efforts were coordinated with Russian diplomats and aided by WikiLeaks and Hague-based lawyers.
CIJA Joins Call for Greater Accountability for Atrocities in Syria
On the eve of next week’s Conference of the States Parties of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), CIJA has joined 14 Syrian and international organisations urging states to adopt enhanced justice and accountability measures in response to atrocity crimes in Syria.
Signatories call on states to “explore individual and collective options to hold more perpetrators to account—by widening the scope of criminal jurisdiction, providing greater resources for victim and witness protection, greater resources for war crimes prosecutors, and considering the creation of a treaty-based tribunal for Syria”. While the statement acknowledges recent advances towards criminal-justice accountability, such as the first crimes against humanity verdict against a former Syrian Regime member, it stresses that “justice is still not commensurate to the injustices suffered” by the Syrian people. The joint statement further urges that states demand immediate release of detainees from Regime detention centres and information on the fates of disappeared persons, while supporting measures to provide greater psychological support for survivors.
At the upcoming OPCW session, states parties will discuss a 46-state backed proposal to suspend Syria’s rights and privileges in the organisation over its use of chemical weapons. The Assad Regime’s responsibility for chemical weapons attacks has been investigated by the OPCW’s Investigation and Identification Team (IIT). CIJA is proud to have assisted the IIT by providing evidentiary and analytical materials in support of the Team’s first investigation and subsequent report on the role of the Syrian Arab Air Force in the incidents in Ltamenah, Syria in March 2017.
CIJA has been conducting criminal investigations in Syria since 2011. Thus far, CIJA has collected over one million pages of Syrian regime documentation and it is currently supporting thirty-two law enforcement agencies from over a dozen democratic countries in addition to a number of multilateral bodies. CIJA’s evidence and testimony have been used in five completed trials pertaining to both Syrian regime and Islamic State criminality. Additionally, CIJA is currently assisting fifteen ongoing investigations by law enforcement agencies.
Read the full statement here: Joint Statement in Advance of the 25th Session of the Conference of the States Parties of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)
On the eve of next week’s Conference of the States Parties of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), CIJA has joined 14 Syrian and international organisations urging states to adopt enhanced justice and accountability measures in response to atrocity crimes in Syria.
Signatories call on states to “explore individual and collective options to hold more perpetrators to account—by widening the scope of criminal jurisdiction, providing greater resources for victim and witness protection, greater resources for war crimes prosecutors, and considering the creation of a treaty-based tribunal for Syria”. While the statement acknowledges recent advances towards criminal-justice accountability, such as the first crimes against humanity verdict against a former Syrian Regime member, it stresses that “justice is still not commensurate to the injustices suffered” by the Syrian people. The joint statement further urges that states demand immediate release of detainees from Regime detention centres and information on the fates of disappeared persons, while supporting measures to provide greater psychological support for survivors.
At the upcoming OPCW session, states parties will discuss a 46-state backed proposal to suspend Syria’s rights and privileges in the organisation over its use of chemical weapons. The Assad Regime’s responsibility for chemical weapons attacks has been investigated by the OPCW’s Investigation and Identification Team (IIT). CIJA is proud to have assisted the IIT by providing evidentiary and analytical materials in support of the Team’s first investigation and subsequent report on the role of the Syrian Arab Air Force in the incidents in Ltamenah, Syria in March 2017.
CIJA has been conducting criminal investigations in Syria since 2011. Thus far, CIJA has collected over one million pages of Syrian regime documentation and it is currently supporting thirty-two law enforcement agencies from over a dozen democratic countries in addition to a number of multilateral bodies. CIJA’s evidence and testimony have been used in five completed trials pertaining to both Syrian regime and Islamic State criminality. Additionally, CIJA is currently assisting fifteen ongoing investigations by law enforcement agencies.
Read the full statement here: Joint Statement in Advance of the 25th Session of the Conference of the States Parties of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)
Mayday Podcast: The Evidence Gatherers
The BBC’s Chloe Hadjimatheou spoke with Bill Wiley and Nerma Jelacic about CIJA’s probe into disinformation networks attempting to discredit Syria accountability efforts.
Listen to the podcast here
The BBC’s Chloe Hadjimatheou spoke with Bill Wiley and Nerma Jelacic about CIJA’s probe into disinformation networks attempting to discredit Syria accountability efforts.
Listen to the podcast here
The sting: How a Canadian is fighting back in Syria’s high-stakes disinformation war
Executive Director Bill Wiley speaks with The Globe and Mail about CIJA’s probe into disinformation networks attempting to discredit the work of his organisation and others seeking accountability in Syria.
Read the full story here
Executive Director Bill Wiley speaks with The Globe and Mail about CIJA’s probe into disinformation networks attempting to discredit the work of his organisation and others seeking accountability in Syria.
Read the full story here
The UK professor, a fake Russian spy and the undercover Syria sting
Director Nerma Jelacic speaks to The Observer about CIJA’s inquiry into disinformation networks that seek to discredit Syria accountability efforts.
Read the full story here
Director Nerma Jelacic speaks to The Observer about CIJA’s inquiry into disinformation networks that seek to discredit Syria accountability efforts.
Read the full story here
CIJA Statement on the Syria Disinformation Campaign
بالعربية
The Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA) is proud to report that it has concluded a probe into the disinformation networks which have increasingly threatened to derail fragile Syria accountability efforts through misinformation, lies and revisionism.
CIJA’s inquiry uncovered the extraordinary degrees of deception these disinformation networks are willing to go to in order to achieve their goal of whitewashing the egregious crimes committed by the regime of Bashar al-Assad. It also exposed a surprising array of individuals who have recklessly served to amplify certain of the core allegations of the disinformation network – persons who are not themselves assessed by CIJA as being apologists for the Assad regime, and are in some instances working in the field of international criminal and humanitarian law.
Amongst other things, the CIJA inquiry revealed that the disinformation networks:
admit privately to fabricating sources and information in order to create the impression of well-researched and evidence-based reports;
coordinate their work with, and take instructions from, Russian diplomats and other representatives of the Russian state;
are engaged in a tightly controlled and orchestrated campaign to denigrate the findings of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), with proactive assistance from Hague-based lawyers providing pro bono counsel on how to wage lawfare against the increasingly damning findings of the OPCW with respect to Syrian regime chemical attacks; and
are prepared to ask apparent agents of foreign states to support their research efforts, and even to attack their foes.
CIJA was only the latest target of this disinformation campaign. Over the last five years, Russia and various proxies in the west have pursued a vicious disinformation war against individuals and groups undertaking humanitarian as well as accountability efforts in Syria. The most prominent targets of this campaign have been the Syrian White Helmets, Mayday Rescue and the OPCW.
In November 2020, CIJA was advised implicitly by the so-called Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media – a leading pro-Moscow and pro-Damascus disinformation network – that CIJA and its Executive Director would be the next targets of its long-running disinformation campaign. In response, CIJA launched its probe, the primary objective of which was to protect the security of CIJA’s witnesses, sensitive sources, its personnel and their families.
The said inquiry was undertaken by lawful means during the period 01 December 2020 to 14 March 2021.
CIJA’s major security concerns were confirmed when a former senior CIJA consultant disclosed to the Working Group and its allies highly sensitive details regarding the extended families – including the children – of CIJA personnel, as well as the names of myriad operational and administrative staff. From a CIJA perspective, this discovery alone demanded the initiation of an inquiry.
The risks that CIJA personnel face are real, not perceived. Documents originating from Syrian security intelligence in the possession of CIJA and other information show that Damascus and states with known Assad sympathies are interested in locating CIJA personnel and facilities. In response to such threats, the CIJA is necessarily committed to protecting by all lawful means its witnesses, sources, personnel, mandate and reputation. This effort requires CIJA to expose those who persist in doing the unconscionable bidding of Moscow, Damascus and their allies in Syria, whether consciously or recklessly. CIJA is obliged morally and ethically to proceed in solidarity with the victims of the Working Group and its partners’ disinformation, including the White Helmets, Mayday Rescue, the OPCW, and James Le Mesurier, whom many of us knew as a friend.
Over the decade of conflict in Syria, CIJA has helped extract to safety activists who found themselves in harm’s way inside Syria. CIJA has done so quietly and without need for recognition. The rising influence of disinformation networks and their impact on Syrian victims and survivors require a strong and unified response by those who stand for human rights and accountability. The information gathered during this probe will be provided to relevant authorities such that appropriate measures can be taken.
CIJA’s solidarity with those who undertake crucial humanitarian, accountability and criminal justice work in Syria, and its determination to fight disinformation networks and their enablers, is now a matter of public record.
About the CIJA
CIJA has been conducting criminal investigations in Syria since 2011. While for security reasons we kept a lower public profile than is usual for an NGO, our work has had high impact where it matters the most: securing evidence and ensuring that this material supports the efforts of western law enforcement to hold perpetrators accountable. Thus far, CIJA has collected over one million pages of Syrian regime documentation and it is currently supporting thirty-two law enforcement agencies from over a dozen democratic countries. CIJA’s evidence and testimony have been used in five completed trials pertaining to both Syrian regime and Islamic State criminality. Additionally, CIJA is currently assisting fifteen ongoing investigations by law enforcement agencies. Overall, since 2016 CIJA has responded to requests for assistance from national authorities pertaining to over 2,000 suspects. For more about CIJA’s work go to www.cijaonline.org
26 March 2021
بالعربية
The Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA) is proud to report that it has concluded a probe into the disinformation networks which have increasingly threatened to derail fragile Syria accountability efforts through misinformation, lies and revisionism.
CIJA’s inquiry uncovered the extraordinary degrees of deception these disinformation networks are willing to go to in order to achieve their goal of whitewashing the egregious crimes committed by the regime of Bashar al-Assad. It also exposed a surprising array of individuals who have recklessly served to amplify certain of the core allegations of the disinformation network – persons who are not themselves assessed by CIJA as being apologists for the Assad regime, and are in some instances working in the field of international criminal and humanitarian law.
Amongst other things, the CIJA inquiry revealed that the disinformation networks:
admit privately to fabricating sources and information in order to create the impression of well-researched and evidence-based reports;
coordinate their work with, and take instructions from, Russian diplomats and other representatives of the Russian state;
are engaged in a tightly controlled and orchestrated campaign to denigrate the findings of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), with proactive assistance from Hague-based lawyers providing pro bono counsel on how to wage lawfare against the increasingly damning findings of the OPCW with respect to Syrian regime chemical attacks; and
are prepared to ask apparent agents of foreign states to support their research efforts, and even to attack their foes.
CIJA was only the latest target of this disinformation campaign. Over the last five years, Russia and various proxies in the west have pursued a vicious disinformation war against individuals and groups undertaking humanitarian as well as accountability efforts in Syria. The most prominent targets of this campaign have been the Syrian White Helmets, Mayday Rescue and the OPCW.
In November 2020, CIJA was advised implicitly by the so-called Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media – a leading pro-Moscow and pro-Damascus disinformation network – that CIJA and its Executive Director would be the next targets of its long-running disinformation campaign. In response, CIJA launched its probe, the primary objective of which was to protect the security of CIJA’s witnesses, sensitive sources, its personnel and their families.
The said inquiry was undertaken by lawful means during the period 01 December 2020 to 14 March 2021.
CIJA’s major security concerns were confirmed when a former senior CIJA consultant disclosed to the Working Group and its allies highly sensitive details regarding the extended families – including the children – of CIJA personnel, as well as the names of myriad operational and administrative staff. From a CIJA perspective, this discovery alone demanded the initiation of an inquiry.
The risks that CIJA personnel face are real, not perceived. Documents originating from Syrian security intelligence in the possession of CIJA and other information show that Damascus and states with known Assad sympathies are interested in locating CIJA personnel and facilities. In response to such threats, the CIJA is necessarily committed to protecting by all lawful means its witnesses, sources, personnel, mandate and reputation. This effort requires CIJA to expose those who persist in doing the unconscionable bidding of Moscow, Damascus and their allies in Syria, whether consciously or recklessly. CIJA is obliged morally and ethically to proceed in solidarity with the victims of the Working Group and its partners’ disinformation, including the White Helmets, Mayday Rescue, the OPCW, and James Le Mesurier, whom many of us knew as a friend.
Over the decade of conflict in Syria, CIJA has helped extract to safety activists who found themselves in harm’s way inside Syria. CIJA has done so quietly and without need for recognition. The rising influence of disinformation networks and their impact on Syrian victims and survivors require a strong and unified response by those who stand for human rights and accountability. The information gathered during this probe will be provided to relevant authorities such that appropriate measures can be taken.
CIJA’s solidarity with those who undertake crucial humanitarian, accountability and criminal justice work in Syria, and its determination to fight disinformation networks and their enablers, is now a matter of public record.
About the CIJA
CIJA has been conducting criminal investigations in Syria since 2011. While for security reasons we kept a lower public profile than is usual for an NGO, our work has had high impact where it matters the most: securing evidence and ensuring that this material supports the efforts of western law enforcement to hold perpetrators accountable. Thus far, CIJA has collected over one million pages of Syrian regime documentation and it is currently supporting thirty-two law enforcement agencies from over a dozen democratic countries. CIJA’s evidence and testimony have been used in five completed trials pertaining to both Syrian regime and Islamic State criminality. Additionally, CIJA is currently assisting fifteen ongoing investigations by law enforcement agencies. Overall, since 2016 CIJA has responded to requests for assistance from national authorities pertaining to over 2,000 suspects. For more about CIJA’s work go to www.cijaonline.org
26 March 2021
March 26, 2021
The UK professor and the fake Russian agent
The BBC reports on CIJA’s months-long investigation into Syria disinformation networks that targeted the organisation and its personnel.
Read the full story here
The BBC reports on CIJA’s months-long investigation into Syria disinformation networks that targeted the organisation and its personnel.
Read the full story here
Edinburgh professor gave names to fake Russia spy
A University of Edinburgh professor and a member of the so-called Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media admits to coordinating with Russian diplomats, attempting to undermine the trial in Germany of two former Syrian officials prosecuted for torture offences. The Times reports on CIJA´s probe into the far-reaching efforts to discredit and derail Syria accountability efforts.
Read the full story here
A University of Edinburgh professor and a member of the so-called Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media admits to coordinating with Russian diplomats, attempting to undermine the trial in Germany of two former Syrian officials prosecuted for torture offences. The Times reports on CIJA´s probe into the far-reaching efforts to discredit and derail Syria accountability efforts.
Read the full story here
To Russia with Love
Der Spiegel reports on efforts by a group of UK university professors to “spread propaganda under the guise of science” in bid to discredit humanitarian workers and deny mass murder.
Read the full story here
Der Spiegel reports on efforts by a group of UK university professors to “spread propaganda under the guise of science” in bid to discredit humanitarian workers and deny mass murder.
Read the full story here
CIJA Executive Director Bill Wiley on the Future of International Criminal Justice
In an op-ed published by Open Canada, CIJA Executive Director Bill Wiley discusses the decline in multilateral approaches to international criminal justice and the consequences it carries for achieving accountability for core international crimes committed in Syria.
Read More: War in Syria and the uncertain future of international criminal justice - Open Canada
In an op-ed published by Open Canada, CIJA Executive Director Bill Wiley discusses the decline in multilateral approaches to international criminal justice and the consequences it carries for achieving accountability for core international crimes committed in Syria.
Read More: War in Syria and the uncertain future of international criminal justice - Open Canada