In August 2013 a young female American aid worker by the name of Kayla Mueller was kidnapped near Aleppo Province by one of Syria's 'moderate' opposition groups before being sold to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). In February 2015 ISIL executed Ms Mueller but because their own rules prevented her, as a woman, being featured in an execution video they claimed that she had been killed in an air-strike by the US-led coalition.
On Friday (14/8/15) the New York Times - citing sources within the Mueller family - reported that during her captivity Kayla Mueller had been repeatedly raped by ISIL's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Although this is clearly unpleasant news for the Mueller family it hardly comes as a surprise.
In early December 2014 ISIL released a guide for its members entitled; "Questions and Answers for Taking Captives and Slaves." Differing wildly from Islam this guide declared it the duty of ISIL fighters to make slaves of people who do not believe in Islam including Christians and Jews. It went on to make clear that any female virgins can be raped immediately after being kidnapped while non-virgins must first prove that they are not pregnant before being raped. Even young girls who have not reached puberty can be sexually assaulted and even raped provided that it is physically possible.
To aid with the selling of women as sex slaves ISIL holds monthly slave auctions in it's de facto capital Raqqa. Here women and very young girls are sold in groups of three or four often for as little as USD5 each. Once a buyer gets bored of their purchase after a couple of months they can simply sell them on as second, third, fourth or even 22nd hand. These auctions also tend to trigger a massive increase in demand for the drug Viagra from ISIL members who need a little help to rape more women more often.
So in any given week I could tell you half a dozen stories exactly the same as Kayla Mueller's. This is simply what ISIL do and what ISIL are.
Within the US this latest revelation has stirred up fresh controversy over the decision at the start of August 2015 to transfer of Nasrin As'ad Ibrahim from American custody to that of Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Better known by the assumed named "Umm Sayyaf" Ibrahim was captured in May by US Special Forces during a raid near Deir-er-Zour in eastern Syria in which her husband Fathi ben Awn ben Jildi Murad al-Tunisi was killed. Like his wife al-Tunisi had assumed the name Abu Sayyaf. In Arabic "Abu Sayyaf" and "Umm Sayyaf" are the masculine and feminine versions of the phrase "Bearer of the Sword" making the couple the "Parents of the Sword."
It has since emerged that for periods of her captivity Kayla Mueller was held at a compound under the control of the Sayyaf's and it was here that at least some of the rapes by al-Baghdadi took place. As such there is a strong feeling that rather then being transferred to the KRG Umm Sayyaf should have been tried and punished within the US for her crimes against a US citizen.
At the time of the raid it was claimed that Abu Sayyaf was a senior figure with ISIL and the man in control of their oil smuggling operations. The problem is that ISIL actually take great pride in presenting themselves as an organised state even going so far as to publish who is in charge of particular regions or in charge of particular ministries such as oil production or foreign fighters. Prior to the American raid Abu Sayyaf's name had not come up before and to this day most people only know him as the guy US Special Forces killed.
While the raid was taking place US Secretary of State John Kerry was embarking on a tour of South-East Asia which included stops in China and the Republic of Korea (RoK/South Korea) as part of US President Barack Obama's grand "Pivot Towards the Pacific" policy. In this part of the world the name "Abu Sayyaf" is much more famous as an Al Qaeda linked terror group that was formed in 1995. Based primarily in the Philippines Abu Sayyaf have also been active in Malaysia and linked to smaller groups across the region including in Thailand and Indonesia.
Since the days of Rihanna's 2013 "Diamonds World Tour" which featured stops in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Singapore, Thailand and a visit to the Philippines that was actually disrupted by a series of attacks by the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) which spawned Abu Sayyaf the US has been very interested in the differences in the way that Islam is interpreted in Arab nations and Asian nations.
This interest is only likely to have increased in the summer of 2014 when Abu Sayyaf pledged allegiance to ISIL and started sending fighters from across South-East Asia to fight in Syria and Iraq.
As such I would go so far to say that Fathi ben Awn ben Jildi Murad al-Tunisi's only value to US intelligence was his assumed name and it's links to South-East Asia. With ISIL operating a very male dominated society his wife would be of even less value.
Also it is worth pointing out that while I believe the allegations regarding Kayla Mueller to be true they are based entirely on the hearsay evidence of a 14 year old girl. It will take lot more then that to secure a conviction in a civilian Court in the US. However Iraq and the KRG can charge Umm Sayyaf - an Iraqi national - with crimes such as treason and waging war against the country before putting her before a military tribunal which would find it much easier to convict and impose the death penalty as punishment.
Although returning someone to their own country to face justice for crimes committed in that country doesn't go anywhere near as far this sending of suspect to a country with a more accommodating legal system harks back to the practise of extraordinary rendition in which the CIA would not torture terror suspects. Instead the CIA would send them to countries such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt which would quite happily torture them on the CIA's behalf.
This flags up the problem with Obama's seeming obsession with closing the Guantanamo facility regardless of fact or circumstances.
While no-one wants to go back to the days of torture ISIL fighters such as Umm Sayyaf are members of a military force that have been captured on the battlefield. As such rather then attacking the protections of the civilian justice system in order to accommodate them it is better to try them in front of military tribunals and imprison them in military prisons such as Guantanamo Bay. After all this is the protection afforded to them under international law.
Rather then closing Guantanamo Bay the scale of the problem is getting such that it might be time for Obama to ask the United Nations to look at setting up a special tribunal to deal with ISIL fighters as it did with the Yugoslavia and Rwanda conflicts.
To my mind the Sayyaf raid is indicative of the problem with Obama's entire attitude towards ISIL. Rather then seeing them as a significant threat both to the region and humanity as a whole that needs to be destroyed by military means Obama is still viewing ISIL as a problem with the news cycle. As such he thinks that all he needs to do is do the occasional big, sexy and spectacular special forces raid or drone strike and voters will be convinced that he is doing all he can allowing Obama to continue to completely ignore the problem.
Even sending Umm Sayyaf to the KRG rather then the Iraqi government shows an arrogant disregard for the situation. With the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi recently reshuffling his cabinet amid widespread protests it is clear that there are tension within Iraq's national government. These tensions are exacerbated by the relationship with the KRG. The KRG itself is under pressure with it today debating whether to allow President Masoud Barzani to extend his term due to the war which I think is the right thing to do because this is clearly no time to train a replacement.
Dumping a high profile and controversial case like that of Kayla Mueller on the KRG at this time and expecting them to sort it out does not strike me as the actions of a supportive ally.
17:10 on 17/8/15 (UK date).
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