Former Syrian secret police officer Eyad Al Gharib covers his face from reporters as he faces trial in Germany for crimes committed in Syria, on February 24, 2021. Reuters
Former Syrian secret police officer Eyad Al Gharib covers his face from reporters as he faces trial in Germany for crimes committed in Syria, on February 24, 2021. Reuters
Former Syrian secret police officer Eyad Al Gharib covers his face from reporters as he faces trial in Germany for crimes committed in Syria, on February 24, 2021. Reuters
Between 2015 and 2016, Germany welcomed about 1.2 million asylum seekers, many fleeing Syria's civil war. Ordinary people who suffered the most extraordinary traumas suddenly found a refuge in the heart of Europe.
In the fog of the migrant crisis, it was also inevitable that a small number of the Syrian war’s most serious criminals would take advantage, seeing Germany and other European states as havens in which to flee responsibility for their actions.
In Syria’s messy conflict, crimes have been committed on every side. ISIS, the terrorist group that once occupied large swathes of Syrian territory, has committed just about every imaginable offence – from theft to systematic rape and torture to attempted genocide. The Syrian security forces’ own charge sheet would be strikingly similar.
In 2019, Germany arrested on its soil an ISIS member accused of enslaving and killing a Yazidi girl in Syria four years earlier. The same year, it also arrested Eyad Al Gharib, a former Syrian secret police officer accused of overseeing the torture of 4,000 people in Damascus.
Syria lacks any infrastructure capable of sifting through the myriad atrocities of its war. It is unlikely that the country will deliver meaningful justice to the millions of victims of those atrocities any time soon.
In Al Hol camp, north-eastern Syria, one can find both victims and suspects crammed together in miserable conditions. The site is at once a refugee camp and a prison, housing 68,000 people, including 10,000 foreign fighters suspected of being ISIS members, along with their wives and children – the latter, of course, having committed no crimes. There are also Syrians and Iraqis suspected of links to ISIS.
Al Hol’s residents, guarded by a meagre troop of Syrian Kurdish soldiers, languish there indefinitely because of a complete unwillingness by their home countries to accept them for repatriation or trial. Among its most famous residents is Shamima Begum, a British-born woman who has been rendered stateless by the UK government after she was groomed to join ISIS at age 15.
The camp’s conditions worsen by the day. Over the weekend, two children were killed in a fire.
Wars such as these and the instability that lingers after them motivated the 20th-century desire to create an international legal system in which certain crimes, regardless of where they are committed, are acknowledged to be universal in their gravity and magnitude. The International Criminal Court and various international tribunals held over the years are designed to give force to that system and, ultimately, a rules-based international order.
Kurdish fighter stand guard as Syrian child, suspected of being related to Islamic State (IS) group fighters, waits at the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp, before being released along with women and children to return to their homes, in the al-Hasakeh governorate in northeastern Syria. AFP
Children hold onto water containers in al-Hol camp, Syria. Reuters
An elderly Syrian woman waits to leave the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp holding relatives of alleged Islamic State (IS) group fighters, in the al-Hasakeh governorate in northeastern Syria. AFP
A child looks on at the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp for the displaced in the al-Hasakeh governorate in northeastern Syria. AFP
Syrian youths get food portions as they prepare to leave the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp holding relatives of alleged Islamic State (IS) group fighters, in the al-Hasakeh governorate in northeastern Syria. AFP
A Kurdish fighter looks on as Syrian women and children, suspected of being related to Islamic State (IS) group fighters, gather at the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp, before being released to return to their homes, in the al-Hasakeh governorate in northeastern Syria. AFP
Children look through holes in a tent at al-Hol displacement camp in Hasaka governorate, Syria. Reuters
Syrians wait to leave the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp holding relatives of alleged Islamic State (IS) group fighters, in the al-Hasakeh governorate in northeastern Syria. AFP
Russian children and an adolescent woman from the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp, which holds displaced families accused of being related to the Islamic State (IS) group, are handed over to a delegation from their country, in the northeastern Syrian city of Qamishli. AFP
Russian children from the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp, which holds displaced families accused of being related to the Islamic State (IS) group, are handed over to a delegation from their country, in the northeastern Syrian city of Qamishli. AFP
Syria's Al Hol camp is at once a refugee camp and a prison
In Syria, however, the ICC has proven entirely ineffectual. The Syrian government has not signed onto the Court's founding treaty, effectively barring ICC prosecutors from investigating it. A referral to the ICC by the UN Security Council would circumvent that obstacle, but the involvement of powerful council members in the war makes that possibility remote. Like the unresolved status of Al Hol camp, the ICC's paralysis with respect to Syria is a stark exposure of gaping holes in our treaty-based view of universality in justice.
In light of these flaws, German courts have turned to the still-nascent legal principle of “universal jurisdiction” to pursue justice for Syrian victims unilaterally, independent of any international process. Al Gharib was convicted and sentenced in Germany last week.
Universal jurisdiction is not an ideal tool for justice. It relies on domestic courts, mainly in Europe, acquiring evidence and context for crimes in foreign countries. It is, largely, a stand-in for accountability in places like Syria. But it is, for the moment, the best that victims in these situations can hope for. If only European nations could apply a similar initiative and a hunger for justice to their people stranded in Al Hol.
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
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Uefa Nations League: How it works
The Uefa Nations League, introduced last year, has reached its final stage, to be played over five days in northern Portugal. The format of its closing tournament is compact, spread over two semi-finals, with the first, Portugal versus Switzerland in Porto on Wednesday evening, and the second, England against the Netherlands, in Guimaraes, on Thursday.
The winners of each semi will then meet at Porto’s Dragao stadium on Sunday, with the losing semi-finalists contesting a third-place play-off in Guimaraes earlier that day.
Qualifying for the final stage was via League A of the inaugural Nations League, in which the top 12 European countries according to Uefa's co-efficient seeding system were divided into four groups, the teams playing each other twice between September and November. Portugal, who finished above Italy and Poland, successfully bid to host the finals.
Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest
Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.
Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.
Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.
Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.
Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.
Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia
The EU imports 90 per cent of the natural gas used to generate electricity, heat homes and supply industry, with Russia supplying almost 40 per cent of EU gas and a quarter of its oil.
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister. "We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know. “All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.” It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins. Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement. The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
