Facts
According to the sentence, brothers Yaser Ameen and Ammar Ameen were members of the al-Hisbah Religious Police and al-Amniyah Intelligence Services of ISIS during its occupation of Iraq between 2014 and 2016. During this period, the brothers are alleged to have been responsible for kidnappings, assaults, corporal punishment and public humiliation of people who did not conform to the laws imposed by ISIS. In one instance, Ammar Ameen is reported to have kidnapped and whipped an Iraqi citizen in a public square in Mosul, Iraq.
In 2016, both brothers left Iraq. They stayed for a period in Turkey, before travelling to Greece and subsequently claiming asylum in Portugal in 2017.
Procedure
In 2017, an Iraqi individual living in Portugal filed a complaint with the Immigration and Borders Service in the city of Leiria, informing the Portuguese authorities that Ammar and Yaser Ameen belonged to ISIS in Mosul. In September 2017, an investigation was opened by the Portuguese National Counter-Terrorism Unit.
In September 2021, Ammar and Yaser Ameen were arrested and detained in preventative custody on suspicion of belonging to a terrorist organization related to their activities as alleged members of ISIS in Iraq between 2014 and 2016.
In September 2022, the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Central Department of Investigation and Criminal Prosecution charged both brothers with membership in a terrorist organization and with the war crimes of causing great suffering or serious harm to physical integrity or health and unlawful deprivation of liberty. Ammar Ameen was also charged with resistance and coercion of an officer.
On 18 January 2024, the Central Criminal Court of Lisbon convicted both brothers of the crime of membership in a terrorist organization. Yaser Ameen was sentenced to 10 years in prison and expulsion from Portugal.
Ammar Ameen was also convicted of war crimes for the kidnapping and whipping of an Iraqi citizen in a public square in Mosul, Iraq, as well as for resistance and coercion of an officer. The court sentenced Ammar Ameen to 16 years in prison, expulsion from Portugal and ordered him to pay EUR 15 000 to the victim.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office has appealed on the grounds that there is evidence of war crimes having been committed by both defendants and that the sentences imposed were low.
In May 2024, both brothers appealed their convictions.
On 30 December 2024, the Lisbon Court of Appeal confirmed the decision of the Central Criminal Court.
For the first time in Portugal, the investigation was conducted in close cooperation with the United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da’esh/ISIL (UNITAD) and judicial authorities in Iraq.