UN Says ISIS Committed War Crimes at Iraqi Prison

The Iraqi Taha Al-J. is led into the courtroom at Frankfurt's Higher Regional Court before the verdict is pronounced Frankfurt, Germany, Nov. 30, 2021. (Frank Rumpenhorst/Pool via AP)
The Iraqi Taha Al-J. is led into the courtroom at Frankfurt's Higher Regional Court before the verdict is pronounced Frankfurt, Germany, Nov. 30, 2021. (Frank Rumpenhorst/Pool via AP)
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UN Says ISIS Committed War Crimes at Iraqi Prison

The Iraqi Taha Al-J. is led into the courtroom at Frankfurt's Higher Regional Court before the verdict is pronounced Frankfurt, Germany, Nov. 30, 2021. (Frank Rumpenhorst/Pool via AP)
The Iraqi Taha Al-J. is led into the courtroom at Frankfurt's Higher Regional Court before the verdict is pronounced Frankfurt, Germany, Nov. 30, 2021. (Frank Rumpenhorst/Pool via AP)

The head of a UN team investigating atrocities in Iraq said that ISIS extremists committed crimes against humanity and war crimes at a prison in Mosul in June 2014 where at least 1,000 prisoners were systematically killed.

Christian Ritscher told the UN Security Council on Thursday that evidence collected from mass graves containing the remains of victims of executions carried out at Badush Central Prison and from survivors shows detailed preparations of the attack by senior ISIS members followed by an assault on the morning of June 10 that year.

"Prisoners captured were led to sites close to the prison, separated based on their religion and humiliated," he said. "At least 1,000 predominantly Shiite prisoners were then systematically killed."

Ritscher said the investigators´ analysis of digital, documentary, survivors and forensic evidence, including ISIS documents, has identified a number of members from the extremist group who were responsible for the crimes.

As a result of the investigations, he said the UN Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes committed by the ISIS in Iraq has concluded that its committed "crimes against humanity of murder, extermination, torture, enforced disappearances, persecution and other inhumane acts" at Badush prison as well as the "war crimes of willful killing, torture, inhumane treatment, and outrage upon personal dignity."

ISIS militants seized Iraqi cities and declared a self-styled caliphate in a large swathe of territory in Syria and Iraq in 2014. The group was formally declared defeated in Iraq in 2017 following a three-year bloody battle that left tens of thousands dead and cities in ruins, but its sleeper cells continue to launch attacks in different parts of Iraq.

In May, Ritscher´s predecessor Karim Khan told the council that investigators had found "clear and compelling evidence" that ISIS extremists committed genocide against the Yazidi minority in 2014. He also said the militant group successfully developed chemical weapons and used mustard gas.

Ritscher hailed the "landmark moment" two days ago that saw the first-ever conviction of an ISIS member for the crime of genocide at the regional court in Frankfurt, Germany. The 29-year-old Iraqi was also convicted of crimes against humanity, war crimes and bodily harm resulting in death over the death of a 5-year-old Yazidi girl he had purchased as a slave with her mother and then chained up in the hot sun to die.

"We now have the chance, collectively, to make such prosecutions the norm, not a celebrated exception," Ritscher said. "In cooperation with Iraqi authorities and those of the Kurdistan region, together with survivors and with the support of this council, we are building the evidence that can deliver meaningful justice for all those who suffered from ISIS crimes in Iraq."

Ritscher said evidence collected relating to the Badush prison attacks underlined the detailed planning by ISIS in carrying out their atrocities, The Associated Press reported.

The extremist group´s approach "is seen even more clearly in two other key lines of investigation that have accelerated in the last six months: the development and use of chemical and biological weapons by ISIS, and the financial mechanisms through which it sustained its campaign of violence," he said.

The team´s evidence also "shows that ISIS clearly identified and then seized chemical production factories and other sources of precursor material, while also overtaking the University of Mosul campus as a hub for research and development," Ritscher said.

The extremist group´s program became more sophisticated and investigators have identified more than 3.000 victims of ISIS chemical weapons attacks as well as its use of rocket artillery projectiles containing a mustard sulfur agent, he said.

In his next briefing to the Security Council, Ritscher said he will present the team´s findings on ISIS´s use of chemical weapons including the crimes it committed.

He also stressed the critical importance of bringing ISIS financiers and those who profit from the group´s crimes to justice.

Ritscher said investigators have uncovered the inner workings of the ISIS central treasury and a network of senior leaders who also acted "as trusted financiers, diverting wealth that ISIS gained through pillage, theft of property from targeted communities and the imposition of a systematic and exploitative taxation system imposed on those living under ISIS control."

He said the team recently shared information with the Iraqi judiciary on the use of money service businesses by the group "as key facilitators of their financing," and it looks forward to expanding this kind of cooperation.



Israeli Forces Storm Major West Bank City of Nablus

Tear gas and smoke are pictured through a window during a large-scale Israeli military raid in the old town of Nablus city in the occupied West Bank, on June 10, 2025. (AFP)
Tear gas and smoke are pictured through a window during a large-scale Israeli military raid in the old town of Nablus city in the occupied West Bank, on June 10, 2025. (AFP)
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Israeli Forces Storm Major West Bank City of Nablus

Tear gas and smoke are pictured through a window during a large-scale Israeli military raid in the old town of Nablus city in the occupied West Bank, on June 10, 2025. (AFP)
Tear gas and smoke are pictured through a window during a large-scale Israeli military raid in the old town of Nablus city in the occupied West Bank, on June 10, 2025. (AFP)

Israel launched a large-scale military operation on Tuesday in the old city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, AFP journalists reported, with the army reporting injured troops and two Palestinians "eliminated".

Dozens of military vehicles entered the city shortly after midnight, an AFP journalist reported, after a curfew had been announced over loudspeakers the day before.

Military operations are focused on the old city, a densely populated area bordering a large downtown square where young men and boys gathered to burn tires and throw stones at armored vehicles.

The Israeli army said that one soldier was "moderately injured" and three others "lightly injured" when two Palestinians attempted to steal a soldier's weapon.

Troops opened fire and "eliminated" both Palestinians, the army said in a statement, using a term the military often uses when killing gunmen.

AFPTV footage showed Israeli soldiers standing in one of the old city's narrow streets, next to the bodies of two civilians.

Neither Palestinian medics nor the Israeli army confirmed the two deaths.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said on Tuesday that three people were injured from bullet shrapnel, four from "physical assaults", and dozens more from tear gas inhalation.

It added that many injuries had to be handled within the old city after its ambulances were blocked from entering.

Nablus is located in the northern West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967.

The territory's north has been the target of a major Israeli military operation dubbed "Iron Wall" since January 21.

On Tuesday, Israeli soldiers entered shops to search them and arrested several people for questioning, according to an AFP correspondent at the scene.

The correspondent added that Israeli flags were raised over the roofs of buildings in the Old City that had been turned into temporary bases for Israeli troops.

Violence has surged in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, triggered by the unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack by the Palestinian movement Hamas on Israel.

At least 938 Palestinians, including fighters but also many civilians, have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers or settlers, according to data from the Palestinian Authority.

During the same period, least 35 Israelis, both civilians and soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military raids, according to official Israeli figures.