UN rights chief urges focus on victims' rights in ISIL-held areas in Iraq

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein on Friday called for immediate action to ensure that the rights and the needs of victims and survivors in Mosul and other ISIL-held areas in Iraq are met, including the need for justice, truth and reconciliation.

The UN rights chief cited recent reports as saying that over the past few days, ISIL appeared to be continuing to carry out killings based on decisions of its self-appointed "courts".

On Tuesday, ISIL reportedly shot and killed 40 civilians in Mosul city after accusing them of "treason and collaboration" with the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF).

The victims were reportedly dressed in orange clothes marked in red with the words: "traitors and agents of the ISF", and their bodies were then hung on electrical poles in several areas in Mosul city.

The same evening, a 27-year-old man was allegedly publicly shot to death in the Bab al-Jideed neighbourhood of central Mosul following a so-called "court's decision", while his crime was just using a mobile phone in Mosul.

Six other civilians were also reportedly hanged on Oct. 20 in Mosul for keeping hidden SIM cards, in violation of ISIL's order to surrender all SIM cards.

"Heartbreaking images of children being forced to carry out executions, stories of women being 'redistributed' among ISIL fighters, of killings for possession of SIM cards, and killings of those perceived to be opposed to ISIL's doctrines, the extent of civilian suffering is numbing and intolerable," High Commissioner Zeid said.

"The people of Iraq, all the people of Iraq, must see that their State, by its actions, is capable of protecting them by bringing to justice those guilty of the horrible crimes that have been committed against them," he stressed. Endit