Europe’s Hidden War

Dutch Human Rights Attorney Supports Civilian Vicims

Also as a consequence of the work done by the Europe’s Hidden War Project, Liesbeth Zegveld, a prominent Dutch human rights attorney, has taken up the cases of two Iraqi civilian who were hit by alleged coalition air strikes. 

The story of Ebtehal Mohammed Yosef (26) and Mohammed Mohammed Ahmed (29) was published in NRC Handelsblad as part of an ongoing investigation supported by Journalismfund.eu along with an op-ed by Zegveld as well as an article describing how, for the first time a lawyer in one of the countries bombing the Islamic State takes action on behalf of potential civilian victims. 

When Dutch F16’s joined the fight against so-called Islamic State, the Dutch Ministry of Defence initially published weekly reports accounting for the amount of missions and, crucially, where the bombs had been dropped. Transparency has since then deteriorated, and the ministry has rejected media requests for simple information as well as freedom of information act requests. 

The lack of transparency makes it near-impossible for civilian victims of coalition air strikes to establish whether or not Dutch F16’s were behind. But »victims have a right to know who harmed them,« argues Zegveld after volunteering to represent Yosef and Ahmed.