New Papers for the Centre for Justice and Accountability

I have two new research papers published by the Centre for Justice and Accountability as part of the centre’s research project on the Islamic State (IS) and prosecutions for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the group:

(i) One paper, entitled “Membership of IS and Other Forms of Involvement,” develops a typology of Islamic State membership and degrees of involvement in the organisation during the era of the group’s territorial caliphate in Iraq and Syria. A distinction is made between formal members (‘brothers’), ‘supporters’ (‘munasirun’) and ‘employees.’ The paper also discusses the issue of how, if at all, members could leave the organisation.

(ii) The other paper explores the interactions between Islamic State and Sunni Muslim communities that came under the group’s control. While considered members of the Islamic State’s broad ‘in-group’ identity, there were also many grounds upon which those identifying as Sunnis could be considered ‘apostates’. The paper explores the practical implications of Sunnis falling into ‘apostasy’ from the group’s perspective and resulting violations committed against such persons, in addition to confiscations of property owned by those who permanently left the group’s territory.