Iraq to Call for ISIL Prosecution through UN Security Council

(FNA)- The Iraqi parliament is planning to file a new lawsuit at the UN Security Council to demand the prosecution of the ISIL militants across the world, a senior lawmaker announced.

"The international bodies should adopt strict laws to eradicate the ISIL's financial resources and also condemn all countries and people supporting the terrorist group," Ashwaq al-Jaff, member of the Iraqi parliament's Human Rights Commission, told FNA on Sunday.

She underlined that cooperation of the international community and approving the laws against money-laundering and confronting financial backups of ISIL will pave the way for the prosecution and trial of the members of the terrorist group.

Al-Jaff reiterated that Iraq can submit its complaint to the International Criminal Court (ICC) via the UN Security Council to prosecute the ISIL militants who are residing in other countries.

In March, the UN human rights office said that the ISIL militants may have committed genocide against the minority Ezadi community in Iraq.

In a report based on interviews with more than 100 alleged victims and witnesses, it also cited crimes against humanity and war crimes against civilians, including children, Reuters said.

The human rights office urged the UN Security Council to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for prosecution of perpetrators.

In December the ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced that the ICC lawyers were gathering evidence on the ISIL extremist fighters from Jordan, Tunisia and European countries, ahead of a potential war crimes probe.

“It’s not an investigation, it’s not a prosecution, it’s just collecting information,” Bensouda said on the sidelines of an event at the Council on Foreign Relations, a New York-based think tank.

The chief prosecutor stressed that the information needs to be assessed carefully before any prosecutions can be launched.

“Already we had the policy of (prosecuting those) most responsible (for war crimes). So you would assume that we only have to look at the most responsible amongst the ranks of ISIL. But the recent strategic plan of looking at notorious and mid-level and then moving up gradually to the most responsible is possible,” Bensouda explained.

The ICC prosecutor’s office has received files from Lebanon, Tunisia and Jordan about militants who have joined the ISIL, a radical group, which has taken control over vast areas in Iraq and Syria.

The ISIL, which has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012, having also extended its attacks to Iraq, is well-financed and draws fighters from many regions, including Europe. A UN commission has accused it of war crimes and crimes against humanity for such brutal tactics as killing, enslavement, rape and sexual slavery.

The ICC has no jurisdiction in Iraq or Syria, but Jordan, Tunisia and European countries are members of the court and their nationals are subject to prosecution by the Netherlands-based tribunal under certain circumstances.

With headquarters in The Hague, the ICC is the world’s only independent permanent tribunal to try cases of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.