CIJA’s Annual Report 2023-24 Published
The Annual Report charts CIJA’s contribution to the identification, apprehension and trial of eleven Syrian Regime and Da’esh suspects and the OPCW investigative report into the use of chemical weapons by Da’esh in Marea in 2015.
The Annual Report charts CIJA’s contribution to the identification, apprehension and trial of eleven Syrian Regime and Da’esh suspects and the OPCW investigative report into the use of chemical weapons by Da’esh in Marea in 2015.
The report also tracks CIJA’s efforts to provide credible narratives of alleged criminality by the Syrian Regime, through the publication of three evidence-based reports as well as various media engagements and strategic initiatives. The 2023-2024 investigative cycle in Syria was funded by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund of the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and the Office of Global Criminal Justice of the US Department of State.
Reflecting on the Yezidi Genocide: A Decade Later
The Commission for International Justice and Accountability joins with its partners, former Iraqi team members and affected communities to commemorate the horrific attack unleashed by Da’esh against the Yezidi minority and their ancestral homeland of Sinjar, in Northern Iraq, which began ten years ago today.
The Commission for International Justice and Accountability joins with its partners, former Iraqi team members and affected communities to commemorate the horrific attack unleashed by Da’esh against the Yezidi minority and their ancestral homeland of Sinjar, in Northern Iraq, which began ten years ago today.
On 03 August 2014, Da’esh forces launched a systematic military operation, resulting in the mass killing of Yezidi men, the enslavement of women and children, and the forced conversion of countless individuals. Captured female Yezidi’s were forcibly transferred to several detention centres and ultimately to individual slaveowners where they became the victims of sexual slavery, forced marriage, forced pregnancies, abortions, and contraception, forced labour, arbitrary detention and other forms of inhuman and cruel treatment. Many Yezidi children were separated from their mothers and indoctrinated into becoming child soldiers, while Yezidi girls as young as seven were reportedly taken as sex slaves. Many did not survive. This coordinated assault also effected the displacement of over 830,000 people and the destruction of cultural and religious sites.
The Commission of International Justice and Accountability (CIJA) has been instrumental in documenting these atrocities. Between 2015 and 2021, CIJA's team, composed of nearly 30 Iraqi investigators and international mentors, meticulously gathered over 59,000 Da’esh documents and more than 5,300 electronic files. They conducted 1,544 witness interviews as well as 1,065 interviews with suspected Da’esh members, building a comprehensive body of evidence on the command structures and operations of the group, including their organised slave trade.
This evidence has been crucial in bringing perpetrators to justice. Of the nine Da’esh arrests, trials, convictions and acquittals that CIJA has supported, three have involved crimes against members of the Yezidi community. Notable cases include the convictions of Sarah O., who received a 6.5-year sentence in Germany for her involvement in the enslavement of Yezidi women, and Taha al-J., who was sentenced to life imprisonment for genocide and other crimes. Additionally, CIJA supported the rescue of a thirteen-year-old Yezidi girl, facilitating her safe return from Syria after nearly four years of captivity.
Since 2018, CIJA has responded to at least 16 Requests for Assistance from law enforcement agencies working on cases directly related to Yezidis and the Da’esh slave trade. In these, CIJA has been able to assist investigations relating to 44 suspects and 11 victims with analytical reports, documents and interviews.
Under strict measures of confidentiality and future-use policies, CIJA also transferred relevant materials to UNITAD and KRG, to assist in their own investigations, analysis, case-building and RFA programmes:
As we honour the resilience of the Yezidi community, we are reminded of the importance of justice and accountability. CIJA's ongoing work with international partners continues to shed light on the atrocities committed by Da'esh, ensuring that the voices of the victims are heard, and that justice prevails.
For more information about CIJA’s Da’esh investigations, please visit:
https://cijaonline.org/daesh-islamicstate
Image credits: Mother and Justice, mobile memorial by Rebecca Hawkins, unveiled by Nadia’s Initiative, July 2024. See: https://www.nadiasinitiative.org/mother-and-justice
Senior Regime figure arrested by US authorities
Samir Ousman al-Sheihk ran the notorious Adra prison (2005-2008) before Assad appointed him Governor of Deir ez-Zor and Head of its Security Committee (2011).
Samir Ousman al-Sheihk ran the notorious Adra prison (2005-2008) before Assad appointed him Governor of Deir ez-Zor and Head of its Security Committee (2011). US authorities arrested him in mid-July for attempted naturalization fraud, where he is understood to have falsely described if he had persecuted or killed anyone for their political beliefs. He was arrested in Los Angeles before fleeing the country with a one-way ticket. CIJA has assisted US investigations into Samir Ousman al-Sheikh since 2021, providing analysis, regime documents and witness interviews on his roles as Head of Adra Prison, Governor of Deir ez-Zor and Head of the Deir ez-Zor Security Committee. Al Adra remains a notorious prison, where many hundreds of Syrians were imprisoned and subjected to torture, sexual violence or death during his time as its Head. As Governor of Deir ez-Zor and head of its Security Committee, al-Sheikh would have been responsible for coordinating the ever-more brutal responses of the four security agencies to the growing numbers of protests.
The Lost Souls of Syria – Part 2
Featuring interviews with Bill Wiley, Chris Engels and Stephen Rapp, part 2 of this film follows the preparation of two extra-territorial cases of Syrian Regime atrocities.
Featuring interviews with Bill Wiley, Chris Engels and Stephen Rapp, part 2 of this film follows the preparation of two extra-territorial cases of Syrian Regime atrocities, in Spain, for the killing of Abdul Hamdo, and in France for the enforced disappearance of Patrick and Mazzeen Dabbagh.
Watch the video:
https://www.aljazeera.com/program/featured-documentaries/2024/5/22/the-lost-souls-of-syria-part-2
France begins its first war crimes trial of Syrian officials
AFP report on the start of the French criminal trial against high ranking Syrian officials for the detention, enforced disappearance and killing of Patrick and Mazeen Dabbagh.
AFP report on the start of the French criminal trial against high ranking Syrian officials for the detention, enforced disappearance and killing of Patrick and Mazeen Dabbagh:
“French investigators and the Commission for International Justice and Accountability collected accounts from dozens of witnesses of torture and mistreatment at Mezzeh Prison, including the use of electric shocks and sexual violence.”
Nerma Jelacic speaks to France 24 on CIJA’s role in fighting impunity
As the trial against top Syrian Regime officials begins in France for their role in the detention, enforced disappearance and killing of Patrick and Mazeen Dabbagh.
As the trial against top Syrian Regime officials begins in France for their role in the detention, enforced disappearance and killing of Patrick and Mazeen Dabbagh, CIJA Director for External Relations, Nerma Jelacici spoke to News 24 on the case and CIJA’s role in fighting impunity:
Senior Syrian intelligence officers face war crimes trial
The New National coverage of the start of the French trial against high ranking Syrian officials for the detention, enforced disappearance and killing of Patrick and Mazeen Dabbagh and CIGE’s evidence collection.
The New National coverage of the start of the French trial against high ranking Syrian officials for the detention, enforced disappearance and killing of Patrick and Mazeen Dabbagh and CIGE’s evidence collection.
أصبحت تقارير لجنة العدالة الدولية والمساءلة متاحة للتنزيل
أصبحت تقارير لجنة العدالة الدولية و المساءلة (CIJA) المبنيّة على الأدلة، التي تفصّل الردّ الوحشي الذي انتهجه النظام السوري في مواجهة المظاهرات السلمية، متاحة للتنزيل الآن وباللغتَين العربية و الإنجليزية.
أصبحت تقارير لجنة العدالة الدولية و المساءلة (CIJA) المبنيّة على الأدلة، التي تفصّل الردّ الوحشي الذي انتهجه النظام السوري في مواجهة المظاهرات السلمية، متاحة للتنزيل الآن وباللغتَين العربية و الإنجليزية.
تكشف التقارير الثلاثة تفاصيل حاسمة حول هيكل القيادة والسيطرة الشامل لنظام الأسد، واعتماده المتزايد على المجموعات شبه العسكرية الوحشية، وقمعه للمواطنين في حمص. يستند التحليل إلى أكثر من مليون صفحة من الأدلة، التي تمثّلت في أوامر وتعاميم وتقارير داخلية صادرة عن الحكومة السورية نفسها، قمنا بنشر بعض منها كملاحق للتقارير. تشكّل التقارير المتاحة للتنزيل تكملة للنسخة التي تمّ نشرها على الإنترنت في العام 2023.
ما وراء الكواليس: حلّ لغز البيروقراطية في آلة الموت السورية، كانون الأوّل/ديسمبر 2023
تعذيب. حملات اعتقال جماعية. إخفاء قسري. برّر النظام السوري استعماله للعنف بحقّ المدنيين، بمن فيهم عدد كبير من الأطفال، كوسيلة لحماية الأمن القومي مما وصفه "بالجماعات الإرهابية المسلّحة". لكنّ الوثائق الصادرة عن النظام نفسه ترسم صورة مختلفة. يكشف هذا التقرير كيف وضع النظام سياسات تهدف إلى قمع نشاط المعارضة بالقوّة وقام بتنفيذها منذ مطلع العام 2011. فيسرد، من خلال الوثائق الخاصّة بالنظام، ما تمخّض عن سلطة عدوانية وشبكة معقّدة من الأوامر والتعليمات والتعاميم والتقارير والدراسات، التي تدفّقت عبر سلسلة القيادة، وكشفت عن الإجراءات المتطرّفة التي سيلجأ إليها النظام ليحافظ على قبضته الحديدية على البلاد.
خنق حمص، أيلول/سبتمبر 2023
هذه قصة خنق النظام لحمص، المدينة التي وُلدت من رحمها الثورة وأعطت كوكبة من الأبطال الذين بذلوا أرواحهم، بينهم الزميل مصطفى، نائب رئيس التحقيقات في لجنة العدالة الدولية و المساءلة (CIJA). يُبيّن التقرير، عبر عيّنة صغيرة من الوثائق الصادرة عن النظام نفسه، التي استطاع محققو اللجنة تأمينها، كيف قام النظام السوري، عمدًا وعن سابق تصوّر وتصميم، بسحق آمال أبناء حمص بتحقيق الديمقراطية، من أولى أيام المظاهرات وحتى فرض الحصار على بابا عمرو.
إماطة اللثام عن شبيحة الأسد، تموز/يوليو 2023
ُسبَت الجرائم التي ارتكبها الشبّيحة، على مدى سنوات طويلة، إلى عصابات شبه عسكرية غامضة كان من الصعب تأكيد تبعيتها لهياكل النظام السوري الرسمية، ولكنّ أدلّة لجنة العدالة الدولية و المساءلة (CIJA) تُظهِر ارتباطًا واضحًا بين تلك المجموعات الميليشيوية وسلسلة القيادة في النظام، فتبيّن اعتماد الدولة المتزايد على تلك العصابات الوحشية لتنفيذ حملات القمع على المتظاهرين السلميين، وللاعتداء على السكان المدنيين لاحقًا.
Behind the Curtain: Unravelling the Bureaucracy of Syria’s Machinery of Death
Today CIJA releases its latest evidence-based report, detailing how the Syrian Regime’s command and control mechanisms orchestrated a matrix of mass arrests, torture, enforced disappearance and murders.
Today CIJA releases its latest evidence-based report, detailing how the Syrian Regime’s command and control mechanisms orchestrated a matrix of mass arrests, torture, enforced disappearance and murders. Using documents issued by the Syrian Regime the report portrays a narrative of unhinged power, laying bare the extreme measures taken by the Regime to maintain its iron grip on the nation, through an intricate web of orders, instructions, circulars, reports and studies that flowed through its chains of command.
Read the report “BEHIND THE CURTAIN: UNRAVELLING THE BUREACRACY OF SYRIA’S MACHINERY OF DEATH”
We know who created Syria’s torture programme and how
CIJA Director of External Relations, Nerma Jelacic describes the Syrian Regime’s command and control structures and how they were mobilized with brutal and deadly force to repress protests…
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/12/18/we-know-who-created-syrias-torture-programme-and-how
CIJA Director of External Relations, Nerma Jelacic describes the Syrian Regime’s command and control structures and how they were mobilized with brutal and deadly force to repress protests and uprisings across the country in this Opinion for Al Jazeera, referring to internal documents generated by the Regime and collected by CIJA investigators.
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/12/18/we-know-who-created-syrias-torture-programme-and-how
The Secret Life and Anonymous Death of the Most Prolific War-Crimes Investigator in History
[The New Yorker] “When Mustafa died, in the earthquakes in Turkey, his work in Syria had assisted in the prosecutions of numerous figures in Bashar al-Assad’s regime.”
[The New Yorker] “When Mustafa died, in the earthquakes in Turkey, his work in Syria had assisted in the prosecutions of numerous figures in Bashar al-Assad’s regime.” In this devastating article for The New Yorker, Ben Taub recounts his life, his undoubted contribution to truth, justice and accountability for the hundreds of thousands of Syrians who perished or suffered at the hands of the Syrian Regime, and his untimely death in the 6 February earthquake with his beloved family.
Rest In Peace Mustafa, Rola, Tala, Hanin, Mays and Omar
The Strangulation of Homs
Homs was at the heart of the Syrian revolution, serving as an example and inspiration to Syrians across the country. People from different walks of life, ethnicities and religious groups came together to call for the fall of the Assad Regime.
Homs was at the heart of the Syrian revolution, serving as an example and inspiration to Syrians across the country. People from different walks of life, ethnicities and religious groups came together to call for the fall of the Assad Regime. Documents collected by CIJA’s Syrian investigators demonstrate the premeditated response of the Syrian Regime, who quickly escalated its suppression of protesters to a tightly organised crackdown of extreme brutality.
A small selection of those documents – issued by the senior-most members of the Syrian regime – are published in this report, which details the Regime’s response from the first days of protest through to the siege of Baba Amro.
READ THE REPORT: https://cija-syria-homs.org
خنق حمص
هذه قصة خنق النظام السوري لحمص، المدينة التي وُلدت من رحمها الثورة و التي أعطت كوكبة من الأبطال الذين بذلوا ارواحهم، و من بينهم مصطفى نائب قائد فريق التحقيقات بسيجا.
هذه قصة خنق النظام السوري لحمص، المدينة التي وُلدت من رحمها الثورة و التي أعطت كوكبة من الأبطال الذين بذلوا ارواحهم، و من بينهم مصطفى نائب قائد فريق التحقيقات بسيجا. يكشف هذا التقرير و من خلال عينة صغيرة من وثائق النظام السوري و التي حصل عليها محققو سيجا، الطريقة المتعمدة التي اتبعها النظام من أجل سحق آمال أبناء حمص بتحقيق الديمقراطية، منذ الايام الاولى للاحتجاجات و لغاية فرض الحصار على باب عمرو.
اقرأ التقرير: https://cija-syria-homs.org
The videos ISIS didn’t want you to see: How grainy security footage could help hold abusers to account
Exclusive CNN report by Mick Krever and Jomana Karadsheh on CCTV footage collected and analysed by CIJA
Exclusive CNN report by Mick Krever and Jomana Karadsheh on CCTV footage collected and analysed by CIJA, showing months of ISIS movements from within the Aleppo Children’s Hospital, which it had occupied in 2013.
Read the exclusive report:
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/09/05/middleeast/isis-video-investigators-netherlands-intl-mime-cmd
US lawmakers file bill urging accountability for Assad government
Al Jazeera coverage of “Assad’s Ghosts Unmasked”: “Last month, war crimes investigators concluded that the Syrian government had deployed “shabbiha”
Al Jazeera coverage of “Assad’s Ghosts Unmasked”: “Last month, war crimes investigators concluded that the Syrian government had deployed “shabbiha” militias to clamp down on dissent, using methods such as torture and sexual violence against perceived opponents.”
Asymmetrical Haircuts Justice Update – Syria Missing and Disappeared
Includes a summary of CIJA’s report on Syrian Regime paramilitaries “Assad’s Ghosts Unmasked” alongside updates of the International Court of Justice torture case and the recent creation of Independent Institution on Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic.
Listen to the podcast: https://www.asymmetricalhaircuts.com/episodes/justice-update-syria-missing-and-tortured/
Read “Assad’s Ghosts Unmasked”: https://cija-syria-paramilitaries.org
Includes a summary of CIJA’s report on Syrian Regime paramilitaries “Assad’s Ghosts Unmasked” alongside updates of the International Court of Justice torture case and the recent creation of Independent Institution on Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic.
Listen to the podcast: https://www.asymmetricalhaircuts.com/episodes/justice-update-syria-missing-and-tortured/
Read “Assad’s Ghosts Unmasked”: https://cija-syria-paramilitaries.org
US lawmakers file bill urging accountability for Assad government
Al Jazeera coverage of “Assad’s Ghosts Unmasked”: “Last month, war crimes investigators concluded that the Syrian government had deployed “shabbiha” militias to clamp down on dissent, using methods such as torture and sexual violence against perceived opponents.”
Al Jazeera coverage of “Assad’s Ghosts Unmasked”: “Last month, war crimes investigators concluded that the Syrian government had deployed “shabbiha” militias to clamp down on dissent, using methods such as torture and sexual violence against perceived opponents.”
Syrie : révélations sur les chabiha, tueurs à la solde du régime Assad
“Ces documents, écrits de la plume même du régime, sont la prevue qu’il s’est appuyé sur ses groups dès la premier jour réprimer les manifestations et écraser les rebelles” commente Nerma Jelacic, directrice à la CIJA.
“Ces documents, écrits de la plume même du régime, sont la prevue qu’il s’est appuyé sur ses groups dès la premier jour réprimer les manifestations et écraser les rebelles” commente Nerma Jelacic, directrice à la CIJA.
How Syria’s Assad Regime Created Their Paramilitary Killers
“A new report, by the war crimes investigators of the Commission for International Justice and Accountability, documents how the highest levels of Syria’s Assad regime“ planned, organised, instigated and deployed” paramilitary units to crush a nationwide uprising from March 2011.”
Read the full report here: https://eaworldview.com/2023/07/syria-assad-regime-paramilitary-killers/
“A new report, by the war crimes investigators of the Commission for International Justice and Accountability, documents how the highest levels of Syria’s Assad regime“ planned, organised, instigated and deployed” paramilitary units to crush a nationwide uprising from March 2011.”
Read the full report here: https://eaworldview.com/2023/07/syria-assad-regime-paramilitary-killers/
Exclusive: Syrian regime organised feared ghost militias, war crimes researchers say
Reuters correspondents Stephanie van den Berg and Maya Gebeily’s exclusive review of CIJA’s report “Assad’s Ghosts Unmasked” which includes seven documents created by the Syrian Regime which help to show that the highest levels of Syria's government planned, organised, instigated and deployed the Shabbiha from the start of the war in 2011.
Reuters correspondents Stephanie van den Berg and Maya Gebeily’s exclusive review of CIJA’s report “Assad’s Ghosts Unmasked” which includes seven documents created by the Syrian Regime which help to show that the highest levels of Syria's government planned, organised, instigated and deployed the Shabbiha from the start of the war in 2011.