Urgent Action Needed to Preserve Evidence of Daesh Crimes in Iraq, UK Envoy Says

UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York Matthew Rycroft has drag attention to the atrocities of Daesh in Iraq, stressing that evidence of the group's crimes should be preserved.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Urgent action is needed to preserve evidence of crimes committed by Islamists in Iraq so that justice could be served, UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York Matthew Rycroft said Tuesday.

"Important that victims of Daesh (terror group, outlawed by many UN nations, including Russia) have justice. UK working closely with Govt of Iraq on this. Need urgent action to preserve evidence," Rycroft wrote on Twitter.

Daesh has seized large parts of Iraq since 2014, killing and enslaving local residents.

The operation to liberate Mosul from Daesh terrorists, outlawed in many countries, including Russia, began on October 17, 2016. Iraqi troops have managed to advance in the eastern part of the city, but the western part — on the right bank of the Tigris River — remains under militant control.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has been repeatedly asked to prosecute militants responsible for atrocities in Syria and Iraq, but the ICC cannot take legal action against nationals of those countries, since Iraq and Syria are not members of the Rome Statute of the ICC.