ICC Note:
ISIS may have been defeated, but peace has not returned to Mosul. The security forces that helped liberate Mosul have taken the law into their own hands to commit revenge killings. They torture suspected ISIS family members then post it online. Not only is this morally wrong, but it could create instability. Such instability may encourage the rise of other extremist groups like Al-Qaeda. If the Iraqi state refuses to prosecute extra-judicial killings, security forces will continue to think that they can abuse their power, creating an atmosphere of fear between the security forces and citizens similar to the one created by ISIS. The security forces that have just liberated the city of Mosul could become its new captors.
07/22/2017 Iraq (Aljazeera) –There have been no surprises in Mosul. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) was roundly defeated, and the combined forces of the Iraqi security services are victorious.
In eastern Mosul, which was liberated months before the rest of the city, Iraqis are seeking to return to normality as fast as possible, by reopening their businesses, resuming classes and exams, organising cultural activities, rebuilding libraries and engaging in reconciliation initiatives. In case there was still any doubt, Iraqi society is once again proving just how resilient it is.
Sadly, that is not where the story ends. As if reading from a script, a stream of soldiers, federal police officers and popular mobilisation fighters have engaged in mass arrests, torture, and summary executions of suspected ISIL fighters.
Increasingly, the perpetrators record every detail of their gruesome acts and post them on social media for all to see, including videos in which captives are thrown from the top of buildings and showered with bullets after they land on the riverbank. Just as seriously, individuals who are thought to be related to ISIL fighters, colloquially referred to as “ISIL families”, are imprisoned in horrific conditions, many of them left without sustenance and medical care.
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