His Eminence expressed his satisfaction over the formation of an investigative team to evaluate the crimes committed by the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in Iraq.
He emphasized on the necessity of storing pieces of evidence of the crimes committed by the terrorist organization adding, “The perpetrators of such crimes must be prosecuted for their actions, and the world must be aware of their danger.”
Ayatollah al-Sistani called for serious attention to Daesh’s crimes against the Christians and Turkmens in Nineveh Governorate, as well as the Yazidis in the Sinjar region and stated, “The horrific crimes committed by the terrorists in taking women as slaves and selling them must also be taken into consideration.”
He also emphasized the necessity of returning the displaced to their home areas and providing the opportunity they needed and added, “Although reconstruction of Iraq’s war-torn cities is the duty of the Iraqi government, international committees must also help Iraq in this task.”
During the meeting, the United Nations envoy provided a report on the tasks accomplished by the investigative team and asked Ayatollah al-Sistani to encourage victims of Daesh’s crimes, especially the women, to “step forward and cooperate with the investigative team.”
It should be noted that in July 2014, Daesh claimed that it had formed a global caliphate and called itself the Islamic State. It controlled large parts of northern Iraq, eastern Syria, with populations of 2.8 million and 8 million people respectively, and small sections of Libya, Nigeria and Afghanistan.
In a letter to Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, on November 21, 2017, General Qasem Soleymani announced the end of the domination of Daesh. However, small areas in the central areas of the Iraqi-Syrian border are still under the control of the terrorist group.