UN Calls for International Prosecution of ISIS Members

Smoke billows as an Iraqi woman and children flee the Old City of Mosul on July 3, 2017, during the government forces' ongoing offensive to retake the city from ISIS. AFP photo
Smoke billows as an Iraqi woman and children flee the Old City of Mosul on July 3, 2017, during the government forces' ongoing offensive to retake the city from ISIS. AFP photo
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UN Calls for International Prosecution of ISIS Members

Smoke billows as an Iraqi woman and children flee the Old City of Mosul on July 3, 2017, during the government forces' ongoing offensive to retake the city from ISIS. AFP photo
Smoke billows as an Iraqi woman and children flee the Old City of Mosul on July 3, 2017, during the government forces' ongoing offensive to retake the city from ISIS. AFP photo

A report issued Thursday by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for an international trial of ISIS members over crimes they have committed in Iraq.

Following ISIS’ defeat in Mosul, the UN rights office said it had compiled witness testimony documenting "mass abductions of civilians, the use of thousands as human shields, the intentional shelling of civilian residences, and indiscriminate targeting of civilians trying to flee the city".

At least 2,521 civilians were killed during the nine-month battle including 741 people who were executed, the report said.

Most died as a result of ISIS attacks. There were more than 1,600 injured.

At least 74 mass graves have been discovered since June 2014 in areas previously held by the terrorist organization in Iraq, the UN report said.

"Those responsible must answer for their heinous crimes,” the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, said in a statement.

The UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq, Ján Kubiš, said evidence shows that ISIS committed mass atrocities against civilians and Mosul itself, a city they claimed as their capital, but for which, in reality, they sought its ultimate and deliberate destruction.

ISIS’ “reign of terror has spared no one, inflicting untold suffering on unarmed residents whose only guilt is that they lived in the areas” under its control, he said.

“Their evil acts did not stop at killing and terrorizing residents, as they wantonly destroyed cultural and religious monuments, including the city’s iconic leaning minaret Al-Hadba, in total disregard of history and Islam, the religion this terrorist organization falsely claimed to represent,” Kubiš added.

The report recounts that, in areas of Mosul under ISIS control, members of the group used loud speakers to announce that residents of areas retaken by the Iraqi forces were considered as “legitimate targets” because of their failure to fight against government forces.

It called on the international community “to take action to ensure that those responsible for international crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes are held accountable.”

“The Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government should ensure that crimes committed in connection to the armed conflict are appropriately subject to the jurisdiction of national courts and tribunals,” said the report.

It also called for introducing amendments to local legislation to grant domestic courts jurisdiction over international crimes committed and the exercise of the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction with respect to the specific situation faced by the country.



Netanyahu Aide Faces Indictment over Gaza Leak

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
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Netanyahu Aide Faces Indictment over Gaza Leak

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces indictment on security charges pending a hearing, Israel's attorney general has said, for allegedly leaking top secret military information during Israel's war in Gaza.

Netanyahu's close adviser, Jonatan Urich, has denied any wrongdoing in the case, which legal authorities began investigating in late 2024.

Netanyahu has described probes against Urich and other aides as politically motivated and on Monday said that Urich had not harmed state security. Urich's attorneys said the charges were baseless and that their client's innocence would be proven beyond doubt, reported Reuters.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said in a statement late on Sunday that Urich and another aide had extracted secret information from the Israeli military and leaked it to German newspaper Bild.

Their intent, she said, was to shape public opinion of Netanyahu and influence the discourse about the slaying of six Israeli hostages by their Palestinian captors in Gaza in late August 2024.

The hostages' deaths sparked mass protests in Israel and outraged hostages' families, who accused Netanyahu of torpedoing ceasefire talks that had faltered in the preceding weeks for political reasons.

Netanyahu vehemently denies this. He has repeatedly said that Hamas was to blame for the talks collapsing, while the group has said it was Israel's fault no deal had been reached.

Four of the six slain hostages had been on the list of more than 30 captives that Hamas was set to free if a ceasefire had been reached, according to a defense official at the time.

The Bild article in question was published days after the hostages were found executed in a Hamas tunnel in southern Gaza. It outlined Hamas' negotiation strategy in the indirect ceasefire talks and largely corresponded with Netanyahu's allegations against the militant group over the deadlock.

Bild said after the investigation was announced that it does not comment on its sources and that its article relied on authentic documents. The newspaper did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

A two-month ceasefire was reached in January this year and included the release of 38 hostages before Israel resumed attacks in Gaza. The sides are presently engaged in indirect negotiations in Doha, aimed at reaching another truce.

In his statement on Monday, Netanyahu said Baharav-Miara's announcement was "appalling" and that its timing raised serious questions.

Netanyahu's government has for months been seeking the dismissal of Baharav-Miara. The attorney general, appointed by the previous government, has sparred with Netanyahu's cabinet over the legality of some of its policies.