Press release by Justice for Life Organization

Justice for Life Organization said in a report under the title They Killed Them to Make Them an Example hundreds of people were killed because of attack by ISIS on Shuitat clan villages which are Abu Hammam, AL Keshkiah and Ghranij villages in the east of Deir ez zoor on July 2014.

Witnesses, who were met by justice for life, talked about hundreds of executions and mutilation of bodies during the attack which lasted 26 days. They assured that detainees were tortured and not allowed to be buried in official cemeteries according to the local customs.

Some witnesses told Justice for Life that ISIS not only pursued the people within the villages that targeted them, but extended the pursuits of the displaced from these villages to other areas where ISIS arrested all those who proved to be from Shuitat tribe and killed many of them.

According to the witnesses, at least 700 civilians were killed as a result of executions and torture without being judged. Witnesses also confirmed that ISIS had displaced the people of three villages and didn’t allow them to return without conditions.

This attack on Shuitat clan villages is considered the largest by ISIS ON Deir ez zoor were ISIS intended to instill fear among civilians.

The report based on 14 interviews which were done by Justice for Life team according to a clear plan about the witnesses who should going to be interviewed to get as much as possible of information.

The team met survivors of the attack by ISIS, some of them were interviewed directly some via skype.

The report mentioned in details the attack, arresting and execution without being judged. The organization documented about 10 mass graves in different areas of the three villages and monitored robberies operations by ISIS of houses in the three villages.

The team faced many challenges, the most notably one is that witnesses didn’t talk because of security reasons and fearing of being revenged upon by ISIS members.

Justice for Life called for referral of the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court and called for working towards a political solution in accordance with Security Council resolutions, warning that any delay in reaching a just solution would allow all parties of the conflict to continue committing violations.