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Al Jazeera (9 July 2019)

Mosul, Iraq

As the city fell to the occupation of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) five years ago, many doctors in Mosul's public hospital ripped off their scrubs and fled.

Labeeb, a doctor himself, was unable to join his colleagues in their escape as he had just reached the hospital with his wife who was showing complications in her pregnancy.

"There were lots of gunshots... The doctors even left their patients and ran away," Labeeb, whose name has been changed to protect his identity, told Al Jazeera in an interview last month.

His wife needed a caesarean section though the anaesthetist had already fled, leaving her to bear a child with a birth defect at 8pm on June 9, 2014 - the same day ISIL took over the city.

"My child was about to die. It was a tough time. It forced me to stay in the hospital and witness everything," he said.

Labeeb, employed by the Iraqi government, is one of the hundreds of government employees under investigation for working under ISIL, also known as ISIS.

As the group occupied the city, it began building its administration from the foundations of the existing Iraqi government workforce.

It was the blueprint the armed group set up across all the territories it controlled. At its peak, ISIL employed thousands of teachers, doctors and various civil employees, even down to municipality drivers.

Considering Labeeb remained in Mosul to care for his wife and newborn child, ISIL took advantage of his expertise.

As Human Rights Watch (HRW) has pointed out in various reports, including Flawed Justice - Accountability for ISIS Crimes in Iraq, all civil employees are subject to investigation and prosecution under the government's blanket system for dealing with ISIL affiliates under its counter-terrorism law.

To read the rest of the article, please click: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/07/iraq-government-employees-face-prosecution-working-isil-190708105114170.html