People's Defense Court tries 900 Syrian ISIS mercenaries

Calls for the establishment of an international court to prosecute detained ISIS mercenaries for crimes against humanity are being issued. In the meantime, the People's Defense Court continues the trial of 900 Syrian ISIS mercenaries.

The Islamic State, a threat to the whole world, was defeated as a result of the long-term struggle waged by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in North and East Syria.

Thousands of ISIS mercenaries involved in crimes against humanity, including massacre, kidnapping, looting and beheading were caught by the SDF.

The people of North and East Syria and the authorities are demanding that an international court be established in the region to prosecute ISIS mercenaries for the crimes they have committed.

A total of 19,000 ISIS mercenaries (12,000 Syrian citizens, 5,000 Iraqi citizens and 2,055 citizens of different countries) are detained in prisons under the Autonomous Administration of Northern and Eastern Syria.

900 of the Syrian ISIS mercenaries under detention are being tried in the Northern and Eastern Syria People's Defense Court. The mercenaries are being tried within the framework of the Autonomous Administration's decision number 2014/20.

In the trial, if the decisions of the Autonomous Administration do not meet certain points, the Syrian constitution is taken as basis.

Xalid Ali, a member of the North and East Syrian Social Justice Council, noted that the trial of 900 Syrian ISIS mercenaries has begun at the beginning of 2020. Ali said that foreign citizen mercenaries are still awaiting trial and added that international forces did not contribute to the trial of mercenaries who threaten the whole world, except for some logistics.

Stating that they face many obstacles in effective prosecution opportunities as well as the lack of judges and interpreters, Ali told ANHA that the Turkish state negatively affected the trial with its invasion attacks.

Noting that international forces do not support the trial in any way, Ali said: “Most of the arrested mercenaries do not have any records. Only the code names are proven. With the liberation of Baxoz, we called on the International Coalition to help us with their identification. However, no response has been given so far.”

Xalid Ali emphasized that an international court to be established in the region is needed for an effective and comprehensive trial of the mercenaries.