Insight and opinion from The National’s editorial leadership
June 13, 2023
The Kurdish-led administration in north-east Syria has announced it will begin trying the thousands of foreign suspected ISIS members who have been languishing in its prisons and camps for several years. The announcement has drawn alarm from many western diplomats, not in the least because the administration’s territory is not a recognised state, and therefore it has no legal jurisdiction to conduct such trials.
It is not the first time Kurdish administrators have made such threats. But they are understandably frustrated about countries’ persistent unwillingness to repatriate their citizens from its jails, and the international community’s seeming inability to come up with another solution, such as an international tribunal.
There would be little need for an international tribunal if western governments would simply take responsibility for their citizens, repatriate them and try them at home.
A common argument in western security circles is that repatriation will be an extremely expensive exercise in pursuing justice without actually achieving it. Domestic courts would be greatly challenged in gathering and consolidating enough evidence to put suspects behind bars, and allowing them to walk free would necessitate monitoring them round-the-clock, potentially for the rest of their lives. Some countries have, indeed, repatriated fighters without successfully prosecuting them.
An international tribunal of the kind the world has seen previously for Rwanda, former Yugoslavia and Cambodia would not solve everything. It would still likely result in many ISIS fighters receiving light sentences or going free – the number of suspects in custody is enormous by international tribunal standards. It is also difficult to see any tribunal created that focuses solely on ISIS fighters getting widespread international support without addressing alleged crimes committed by the Syrian government and other parties to the conflict as well.
This makes such a project unlikely to get off the ground in the first place. Tribunals are normally created with the consent of either the state where the crimes occurred or the UN Security Council. The Syrian government is unlikely to agree, not only because it wants to avoid any legal exposure but also because it would probably insist that its courts should exercise sole jurisdiction for all crimes committed on Syrian soil. And Russia, a close ally of Syria, is likely to veto any proposal pursued through the Security Council.
The only other avenue that has emerged in practice is the idea of domestic trials in Iraq. Such trials have already taken place, but they have been so problematic in their execution (many have lasted no longer than 15 minutes) that few now consider them to be a viable tool for justice.
An alternative idea, which has gained some traction among legal scholars, is to set up a treaty-based court. This could potentially be in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRG), where many victims, witnesses and suspects are already located or could easily travel to, though arrangements would have to be made to transfer suspects from Syrian Kurdish custody.
Pursuing this solution would require considerable diplomatic and legal creativity, but it is not impossible. The dozens of countries whose nationals are in Syrian Kurdish prisons could sign a treaty pooling their jurisdiction to prosecute fighters for international crimes and terrorism-related crimes, using a combination of international law (where applicable) and either the laws of suspects’ home countries or KRG and Iraqi law. The treaty could also impose certain parameters, like the exclusion of the death penalty.
The realisation of any such plan (or others) probably remains a long way off. The current global geopolitical climate does not have the world in a particularly co-operative mood. Powerful countries could do without having to confront complicated truths about who bears responsibility for some of the most egregious crimes the world has seen in the past two decades. For Syrian Kurds, however, the truth is very simple: whoever is responsible, it isn’t them.
Why are asylum seekers being housed in hotels?
The number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high, driven by those illegally entering the country in small boats crossing the English Channel.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation while their claim is assessed.
The Home Office provides the accommodation, meaning asylum seekers cannot choose where they live.
When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to hotels or large sites like former military bases.
€39 million: Liverpool agreed a fee, including add-ons, in the region of €39m (nearly Dh176m) to sign Salah from Roma last year. The exchange rate at the time meant that cost the Reds £34.3m - a bargain given his performances since.
13: The 25-year-old player was not a complete stranger to the Premier League when he arrived at Liverpool this summer. However, during his previous stint at Chelsea, he made just 13 Premier League appearances, seven of which were off the bench, and scored only twice.
57: It was in the 57th minute of his Liverpool bow when Salah opened his account for the Reds in the 3-3 draw with Watford back in August. The Egyptian prodded the ball over the line from close range after latching onto Roberto Firmino's attempted lob.
7: Salah's best scoring streak of the season occurred between an FA Cup tie against West Brom on January 27 and a Premier League win over Newcastle on March 3. He scored for seven games running in all competitions and struck twice against Tottenham.
3: This season Salah became the first player in Premier League history to win the player of the month award three times during a term. He was voted as the division's best player in November, February and March.
40: Salah joined Roger Hunt and Ian Rush as the only players in Liverpool's history to have scored 40 times in a single season when he headed home against Bournemouth at Anfield earlier this month.
30: The goal against Bournemouth ensured the Egyptian achieved another milestone in becoming the first African player to score 30 times across one Premier League campaign.
8: As well as his fine form in England, Salah has also scored eight times in the tournament phase of this season's Champions League. Only Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, with 15 to his credit, has found the net more often in the group stages and knockout rounds of Europe's premier club competition.
Brief scores
Toss India, chose to bat
India 281-7 in 50 ov (Pandya 83, Dhoni 79; Coulter-Nile 3-44)
Australia 137-9 in 21 ov (Maxwell 39, Warner 25; Chahal 3-30)
India won by 26 runs on Duckworth-Lewis Method
THE SIXTH SENSE
Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment
Thursday, December 6
08.00-15.00 Technical scrutineering
15.00-17.00 Extra free practice
Friday, December 7
09.10-09.30 F4 free practice
09.40-10.00 F4 time trials
10.15-11.15 F1 free practice
14.00 F4 race 1
15.30 BRM F1 qualifying
Saturday, December 8
09.10-09.30 F4 free practice
09.40-10.00 F4 time trials
10.15-11.15 F1 free practice
14.00 F4 race 2
15.30 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi
An exchange traded fund is a type of investment fund that can be traded quickly and easily, just like stocks and shares. They come with no upfront costs aside from your brokerage's dealing charges and annual fees, which are far lower than on traditional mutual investment funds. Charges are as low as 0.03 per cent on one of the very cheapest (and most popular), Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, with the maximum around 0.75 per cent.
There is no fund manager deciding which stocks and other assets to invest in, instead they passively track their chosen index, country, region or commodity, regardless of whether it goes up or down.
The first ETF was launched as recently as 1993, but the sector boasted $5.78 billion in assets under management at the end of September as inflows hit record highs, according to the latest figures from ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five largest providers BlackRock’s iShares, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisers, Deutsche Bank X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
While the best-known track major indices such as MSCI World, the S&P 500 and FTSE 100, you can also invest in specific countries or regions, large, medium or small companies, government bonds, gold, crude oil, cocoa, water, carbon, cattle, corn futures, currency shifts or even a stock market crash.
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
