Karim Khan, head of the UN team investigating Islamic State atrocities: "Iraq could have its Nuremberg moment"

• Iraq: the unremitting wounds of Yazidi children kidnapped by the Islamic State
• Jihadism: 'Triangles of death' of the Islamic State in its former fiefdoms of Syria and Iraq

Two years ago the British lawyer Karim Khan assumed, under the mandate of the UN Security Council, one of the most complicated challenges in his long professional career: investigating and collecting evidence of atrocities committed by the self-styled Islamic State in Iraq with the ultimate goal of prosecuting some of those responsible for crimes against humanity, war and genocide . "I arrived in Baghdad on October 31, 2018 with a team of five people, without an office or real infrastructure. I am proud to say that 20 months later, we are at full capacity," says Khan in an interview with EL MUNDO. Tanned in the halls of the International Criminal Court and special courts for Rwanda, Yugoslavia, Cambodia, Lebanon and Sierra Leone, this renowned expert on International Criminal Law and Human Rights now leads theUN Investigation Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by the Islamic State (Unitad) that searches among mass graves, telephone records, documents of the jihadist organization and testimonies of surviving investigations for quench the thirst for justice.

Question.- Six years have passed since the IS (Islamic State) attacks against the Yazidi minority in Sinyar. Thousands of women and girls were turned into sex slaves. The victims and survivors denounce the slowness of the judicial process against their executioners ...

Answer.- From the victim's perspective, these crimes should never have occurred. That they occur is a stain for all of us, for the international community and for Iraq, even though the country has paid a high price and many members of its security forces have sacrificed their lives. I agree with the victims that a long time has passed. Until 2017 the Daesh [Arabic acronym for IS] controlled a territory the size of the UK and I was only appointed to the post in 2018. Their concern about the speed of justice is correct because they have been waiting for it since 2014. In Unitad terms We have only been working in the field since the end of 2018 and only since April 2019 do we have an office. From an angle, the team has worked incredibly fast. Many of those who have seen us in action have told us that we are driving the boat at the same time that we build it. The reality is that there is still a long way for victims to see the justice they crave.

Q.- What is the progress made so far?

A.- Through our collaboration with the Iraqi justice and judicial orders, we have obtained the telephone records of the attacks, we have analyzed the data and we have provided the resulting information to the local authorities. We have developed good cooperation with the Iraqi Military Intelligence. We currently have 24 terabytes of information. We have conducted parallel investigations with witnesses that we have been able to identify. Since March last year we have had a centralized database of survivor DNA samples that increases the likelihood of identifying and returning bodies. My mandate is not terrorism but to collect and analyze evidence of acts of the IS that may constitute genocide, crimes against humanity and war. One of the problems we have encountered is that Iraq lacks a legal architecture for international crimes.

Q.- In this regard, you have been demanding for months a legal reform that allows it ...

A.- I have certain hopes that it may occur. In November, Iraqi President Barham Salih introduced a law that, if passed, will allow the prosecution of acts of Daesh such as genocide and war crimes and against humanity, regardless of whether they have been committed inside or outside their territory. Political protests, events earlier in the year [the US drone attack that killed Iranian General Soleimani] and now the coronavirus have delayed that approval. Parliament's work resumes in September and we hope that momentum can build. It is important for victims that crimes be named for what they are. It is not terrorism, as we have seen in other parts of the world, but a persecution based on creed or race and an attempt to destroy entire communities.

Q.- Is there sufficient evidence for a kind of new "Nuremberg Trials"?

A.- I am not going to distinguish between international or local trials. There are some basic requirements for a fair process. We seek evidence that can be brought before the court of any country and claim the rights of survivors to justice. Evidence that can stand the test of time is required. That is the legacy of Nuremberg. When a fascist today denies the Holocaust, he is seen as crazy or extremely dangerous. Those trials, based on evidence, demonstrated that the plan was conceived from the highest Nazi levels as a policy of racial supremacy. And now, when someone defends principles of fascism, the world has an alarm bell. That is what is needed for Daesh. One of the ways to do this is to expose that their ideology goes against the principles of Humanity, Islam and any other religion.

Q.- Where and how could these "Nuremberg Trials" be carried out against the IS?

A.- The International Criminal Court does not currently have jurisdiction in Iraq. We support European countries that are willing to exercise their jurisdiction. We must also support Iraq because it deserves our credit. It was they who invited us, those who support the resolution and those who are improving its capacity. I think there could be a Nuremberg moment in Iraq, both in Baghdad and in Kurdistan. Nuremberg involves a process away from controversy, rumor and speculation and based on evidence that can be challenged in public and that create a record. For that you don't need an international tribunal.

Q.- One of their fields of work is the mass graves left by the IS ...

R.- That's right. When I arrived, it was estimated that there were around 200 locations with those killed. Some were not mass graves because they had not even been buried. We have prioritized those that are most relevant to the court cases we build. We have started the exhumation of 18 graves and concluded 16. The Covid-19 has complicated the work but we have just started others in various locations, from Mosul to Al Anbar.

Q.- In these two years they have immersed themselves in some of the wildest atrocities committed by the IS. I guess it was hard ...

A.- The team is prepared for a depravity that should not exist in the 21st century. We are not in the Middle Ages. We are in a time when we are sending missions to Mars but, at the same time, we must witness crucifixions, rapes, slavery and cruelty. It is an honor for us to serve the survivors, who are the true heroes. When I see people who have no one left, who are orphans in the universe and who have witnessed their families being erased, I try to put myself in their shoes. I wonder how they have the courage to get up every day, to wash up and try to have a better future. It is your integrity that we have a duty to focus on.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

• Iraq
• Islamic State
• Un
• Mosul

JihadismAl Mawla, the "destroying" caliph that maintains the most brutal essences of the Islamic State

Conflict Russia and China veto the sending of humanitarian aid to northern Syria

Middle East Islamic State's 'triangles of death' in its former fiefdoms in Syria and Iraq

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