...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks...
team investigating crimes committed by the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
(ISIS) in Iraq is preparing to share with Iraqi authorities the 40 terabytes of evidence compiled in its six-year investigation as it wraps up its mission next month.
"We are now in the process of providing our results to the competent Iraqi authorities," UNITAD's public information office said Tuesday in an email reply to Rudaw. "This includes a consolidated, digital version of these evidence holdings... as well as investigative reports assessing that acts committed by ISIS/Da'esh in Iraq may amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide."
"A copy of this original evidence will be kept by the United Nations as part of its records and archives, together with other materials originally collected by the Team, in line with United Nations policies and best practices and relevant international law," it added.
UNITAD (United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da'esh/ISIS) was established in 2017 by the UN Security Council at the request of the Iraqi government to ensure that ISIS turbans would be held accountable for their crimes. The team's work included collecting witness testimony, leading the exhumation of mass graves, and training Iraq's judiciary.
The investigative team, however, had a difficult relationship with the Iraqi government, reportedly due to UNITAD's reluctance to share information with Iraqi authorities over concerns about the use of the death penalty
. Iraq requested UNITAD end its mission and its mandate will expire on September 17."Steps have been taken over the past months, in cooperation with the Government of Iraq, to ensure an orderly drawdown and liquidation of the mission in advance of this date," UNITAD's public information office stated.
The UNITAD team has "been working diligently to ensure the Iraqi authorities are in the best position possible to advance domestic accountability efforts prior to the conclusion of the mandate, while at the same time respecting the end date of the mission," it added.