The dehumanization of ISIS members through political rhetoric leads to flagrant breach of Geneva Convention in post-ISIS world

By Martin Accad

News

Following the rapid demise of ISIS over the past few months, there have been discussions about the fate of ISIS fighters. The number of foreign fighters alone has been estimated to be around 30,000. The number of local fighters is much harder to estimate, as they more easily blend back into Iraqi and Syrian society. Iraqi courts have been expediting judicial processes in make-shift courtrooms, and sentencing thousands of young men to death for their suspected involvement or collaboration with the group. Through this, the Iraqi government hopes to prevent former fighters from blending back into the Iraqi population, and they seek to reaffirm the authority of the law. Human Rights Watch has also reported evidence of Iraqi soldiers executing suspected ISIS members before they have the opportunity to receive a proper trial.

All of this is part of a global rhetoric of “dehumanization” of Jihadists, aided by their savagery that has been amply reported by the media over the past few years. Leading politicians in western governments of the UK, France, the US, and others, have called for the “annihilation” of ISIS and the killing of the largest possible number of combatants on the battlefield. Through this they hope to avoid the risks involved in their return to social normalcy.

Analysis

Regardless of the expected reemergence of the ideology in some incarnation or other, both in Syria, Iraq, and other parts of the world, returning combatants and their families are possibly the greatest challenge to the international community today. Many are able to return legally to their European countries of origin, and convicting them of crime in court beyond reasonable doubt has been proving significantly more difficult than demonstrating their radical involvement from an intelligence perspective.

Many foreign fighters brought their families along with them into the trenches, in Islamist imitation of the hijra (migration). By this, they intended to follow the model of Muhammad and his early companions, who fled persecution in Mecca for the city of Medina, from which they would later return en force to conquer Arabia’s “mother of all cities.” Sayyid Qutb, in his book Milestones, which became during the latter half of the twentieth century the “Bible” for most Islamists, taught about the importance of the act of hijra to join an (imagined) community of holy fighters for God. He emphasized the act as a key “milestone” on the way to obedience to God’s precepts, which through perseverance would eventually bring about the rule of God on earth through his “righteous” community.

So, what is to be the fate of a group of men, women, and children, who have been misled by an extremist ideology of social transformation, which is sought out as the solution for all of our social ills?

Theological Perspectives

As some humanitarian advocates from the ICRC, the UN, Human Rights Watch, and others, have pointed out, the atrocities committed by ISIS members is not an excuse to ignore the Geneva Conventions about the treatment of prisoners of war. Disregard for international agreements through the summary execution of fighters who have abandoned combat will lead to many greater problems in the long term.

Getting rid of a problem through a process of “dehumanization” ignores many a nagging issue that has been feeding this ideology for decades. For jihadi Islamism is fundamentally a call to reform and revolt against what is viewed as a system of economic, social, and political injustice perpetrated by the rich, corrupt, and powerful against the poor and the oppressed in countries that have been colonized for centuries. It is also a revolt against the international community’s one-sided support of the State of Israel against the destitute Palestinian people.

There can be little hope for deradicalization without justice. And if deep economic, social, and political issues are not addressed holistically, violence justified by religious ideology will continue to spread and reincarnate throughout disillusioned and marginalized segments of our societies.

Missiological Reflection

The post-conflict situation of Iraq and Syria represents a formidable challenge and moral dilemma for the international community, which is called to exercise its most authentic humanity in the face of the horrors and total destruction left behind by jihadi groups such as ISIS. But it is also a challenge to be taken on by the global Church.

The monstrosity and horrors of the crimes perpetrated by ISIS against Christian and other communities in Iraq and Syria, to which the global community is awakening, will never be rectified. And this cannot be taken lightly. But the phenomenon that we have all witnessed over the past few years has not emerged in a vacuum, and the international community ought to face up to its own responsibilities in allowing it.

Some countries, such as Denmark, Germany, Belgium, and France, have been setting up programs for rehabilitation and reintegration for former jihadi fighters and for others deemed at risk of radicalization. As the Centre on Religion and Global Affairs, of which I am a part, has pointed out in a 2016 report, the Biblical message of peace and hope has the potential of offering an alternative narrative to the religiously-motivated violence often born out of hopelessness.

The Church, both in Europe, North America, the Middle East, and elsewhere, also has a potential role and responsibility in reaching out to families of former ISIS fighters and other victims of jihadi Islamism. There are emerging accounts and testimonies of women survivors, who have been seduced by radicalized young men, whom they have perceived as their way out of unbearable familial, economic, and social realities. As Henda Ayari, one such French/Tunisian woman who recently published her own story with jihadi Islamism, affirms in a New York Times interview: “You need to resolve the problem with discussion, comprehension, softness and above all not exclusion.” That is undoubtedly a role for which followers of Jesus have all the necessary resources. For the Bible invites us to find in every human being the mark of God’s image.