UN to End in 1 Year its Probe of ISIS Extremists in Iraq

FILE - Kurdish forces patrol al-Hol camp, which houses families of members of the ISIS group in Hasakah province, Syria, on April 19, 2023. I (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad, File)
FILE - Kurdish forces patrol al-Hol camp, which houses families of members of the ISIS group in Hasakah province, Syria, on April 19, 2023. I (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad, File)
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UN to End in 1 Year its Probe of ISIS Extremists in Iraq

FILE - Kurdish forces patrol al-Hol camp, which houses families of members of the ISIS group in Hasakah province, Syria, on April 19, 2023. I (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad, File)
FILE - Kurdish forces patrol al-Hol camp, which houses families of members of the ISIS group in Hasakah province, Syria, on April 19, 2023. I (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad, File)

The Security Council on Friday voted unanimously to end, a year from now, a UN probe into activities of ISIS extremists in Iraq. The vote came at the request of the Iraqi government.

The UK-sponsored resolution noted that Baghdad also asked that UN investigators hand over evidence they have gathered so far to the government, so that Iraqi authorities can pursue ISIS members’ accountability, as well as that of those who assisted and financed “this terrorist organization.”

The Security Council in September 2017 set up the investigative team — also at Iraq’s request — to collect evidence against ISIS members to be used in trials.

The AP quoted Christian Ritscher, the head of the team, telling the council in June that its investigators were compiling evidence on the development and use of chemical weapons by ISIS extremists and advancing their documentation on the militant group’s gender-based violence and crimes against children, Sunni and Shiite Muslims, Christians and Yazidis.

ISIS seized about a third of Iraq in 2014, along with a large swath of territory in Syria, and declared a self-styled caliphate across the area. It was declared defeated in Iraq in 2017 following a three-year battle. However, ISIS sleeper cells continue to stage attacks to this day in both Iraq and Syria.

Britain’s UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward told the council that the UN team has supported the excavation of mass graves, facilitated the return of remains to the families of victims, and worked closely with Iraqi judges and prosecutors, particularly on collecting evidence.

“It has provided survivors, including of sexual and gender-based violence, with opportunities to provide testimony safely with their rights fully respected,” she said. “And it has enabled psychosocial treatment in partnership with Iraq’s Ministry of Health, providing real impact for survivors.”

The resolution asks Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to submit a report by Jan. 15 on recommendations to implement Iraq’s request for evidence obtained by the UN team. The Security Council also asks that the team, with approval of Iraq's government, determine how evidence can be shared with other countries and to inform Baghdad about any evidence already given to third countries.

Woodward said Britain will work with the Iraqi government to continue the UN team's “legacy, both in Iraq and around the world.”

On Wednesday, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nadia Murad, a Yazidi who was taken by ISIS militants and became a sexual slave, and her high-profile human rights lawyer, Amal Clooney, issued a statement highlighting their support for the team's mission and expressing concern that its mandate might not be renewed.

They said in a joint statement that evidence and testimonies gathered by the team “demonstrated the depth" of ISIS brutality — not only against the Yazidis but also against other minorities.

Murad and Clooney appealed for the extension of the team's mandate to preserve evidence for use in future criminal proceedings and to build “Iraq’s capacity in international crimes investigations and prosecutions.”



France Expels 12 Algerian Officials in Tit-for-Tat Move amid Diplomatic Tensions

Algerian flags fly at half-staff along the seaside walk in Algiers, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. (AP)
Algerian flags fly at half-staff along the seaside walk in Algiers, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. (AP)
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France Expels 12 Algerian Officials in Tit-for-Tat Move amid Diplomatic Tensions

Algerian flags fly at half-staff along the seaside walk in Algiers, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. (AP)
Algerian flags fly at half-staff along the seaside walk in Algiers, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. (AP)

France said Tuesday it was expelling 12 Algerian diplomatic officials a day after Algeria announced the expulsion of the same number of French officials in escalating tensions between the two countries.

Algeria said Monday that its expulsion of 12 French officials was over the arrest of an Algerian consular official by French authorities in a kidnapping case, but relations between the two sides have been deteriorating since last summer. That's when France shifted its position to support Morocco’s autonomy plan for Western Sahara — a disputed territory claimed by the pro-independence Polisario Front, which receives support from Algeria.

Tensions further peaked in November after Algeria arrested French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, who is an outspoken critic of the Algerian regime. He has since been sentenced to five years in prison — a verdict he subsequently appealed.

In addition to what French officials called the "symmetrically" calibrated expulsion of 12 Algerian officials, France's ambassador to Algiers also was being recalled home for consultations, a statement from the French presidential palace said Tuesday.

It said Algerian authorities were responsible for "a brutal deterioration in our bilateral relations."

French counterterrorism prosecutors said three Algerian nationals in total were arrested last week and handed preliminary charges of "kidnapping or arbitrary detention … in connection with a terrorist undertaking."

The group is allegedly involved in the April 2024 kidnapping of an Algerian influencer, Amir Boukhors, or Amir DZ, a known critic of the Algerian government with 1.1 million followers on TikTok.

The latest surge in acrimony followed a brief easing of tensions about two weeks ago when French President Emmanuel Macron called Algerian counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune. French officials said they had agreed to revive bilateral relations.