Amnesty International wants Belgium to make sure the suspected member of the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group, Tariq Jadaoun, enjoys the right to a fair trial, the director of Amnesty International Flanders, Wies De Graeve, said on Friday. The international human rights organization is also against the death penalty for the suspect. “We are opposed on principle to the death penalty, including in this case,” De Graeve said.
The trial of Tarik Jadaoun, one of the best-known Belgians to have joined ISIS in Iraq, began on Thursday in Baghdad. Jadaoun, also known by his war name, Abu Hamza Al-Belgiki, joined the Islamist organization in 2014. He was arrested last year at the battle of Mossul, in the north of the country.
"We want justice to be rendered on behalf of the victims, because that is in Amnesty International’s DNA,” De Graeve stressed, “but in our opinion, that has to be done through a fair trial, to which everyone has the right, including this ISIS fighter, even if he suspected of committing terrible crimes."
Amnesty therefore calls on the Belgian authorities to monitor the trial closely, hoping that they will press for the non-application of the death sentence if it is delivered, he added.
The Brussels Times
