The Judicial Sharia Committee: a New Authority in Deir al-Zor

By Ghaith Ahmad

(Deir al-Zor, Syria) – The Judicial Sharia Committee in Deir al-Zor was established by Islamist oriented factions of the armed opposition that took control of large parts of the city and its suburbs in the summer of 2012. Officials in the city say journalists are not permitted to name the area where the Sharia Committee’s headquarters is located for “security reasons.” Battles are still on-going with the forces of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, and officials fear the possibility of an attack on the headquarters.

Abu Ayyoub leads a group called the Abbas Brigades, which helped form the Sharia Committee. He says the committee was established to deal with the high number of problems in the “liberated” areas, and a need for a security and judicial institution to diffuse conflict between civilians and military factions in the city. He explains that the committee is Sharia-based because the majority of the opposition factions in the area are Muslim and they want Sharia to be the basis of the law. He adds that there is no time to take everyone’s opinion or approval on the matter through consensus or through elections.

Most of the armed opposition groups in Deir al-Zor are Islamist, consisting of factions from the Movement of the Sons of Islam, brigades loyal to the Military Council, the Islam Brigades loyal to the Front for the Liberation of Muslim Syria, as well as independent Brigades such as the Fatihoun, La Ilaha Illa Allah Mohammad Rasoul Allah, Jaafar al-Tayyar, Mou’ta, Al-Qa’qa’a, the Lions of Sunna, Khaled Bin al-Walid, and the Abbas Brigades. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), while also present in the city, is not a member of the committee for unknown reasons, and officials within the organization could not be reached for comment.

The Judicial Sharia Committee is the civilian face of the armed factions, each of which has a non-military representative in the committee. The representatives either have a degree in law or have studied Islamic Sharia. The leaders of the factions select the head of the committee through consensus, and they pledge to support it in its decisions and protect it from any attack. Currently, 17 people work in the committee as judges, lawyers, and administrators, all of whom are men from Deir al-Zor.

Some of the employees of the committee complain about a lack of funding to cover salaries, expenses, and feeding prisoners. The only source of income is donations from Syrians in the Gulf, in addition to some support from factions of the Free Syrian Army. Despite this support, members of the committee insist on the independence of their work and the inability of any party to impose decisions or affect their work in any way.

A member of the committee who asked to remain anonymous claims that the credibility and authority of the committee rest on the support of the armed factions active on the ground, without which it would not be able to make and implement any decisions. Power lies in the hands of those who wield weapons, according to the committee member.

 

Hussein Bseibis, a committee judge with a law degree from Damascus University, explains how the committee operates. It is comprised of two committees of five lawyers and five legislators, and judgments are made through discussion and consensus within each committee.

“The accused is brought into the hall where the committee listens to them and studies the case,” he said. “During the session the committee members discuss the case and then announce a decision which is effective immediately.”

“There is no right to appeal, and the accused cannot appoint a lawyer for their defence,” he said.

The committee’s police force consists of 50 individuals who implement the committee’s decisions.  Most are former combatants. The committee has a prison located in one of the old security headquarters that the armed opposition took over.

Judge Bseibis says that the committee has adopted a legal code based on Islamic Sharia. Bseibis claims that the committee does not apply the limits laid down in Islamic law, such as cutting off hands, flogging, or beheading, due to the on-going war. As an example, he recounted the judgment of a thief who was given a reduced sentence of three to six months imprisonment, after which he was made to swear on the Koran in front of two witnesses that he will never steal again.

Since its establishment at the end of last year until September 2013, the committee issued over 500 decisions in Deir al-Zor, most of which involved theft. One committee member who preferred to remain anonymous claims that since the committee was established, theft in the city has significantly decreased. The committee does not allow anyone to remove items from the city without its permission and after verifying ownership. All details are recorded in the presence of two witnesses.

Abu Bakr, a resident of Deir al-Zor, says incidents of theft have gone down in the city.

“When I wanted to move items from my house in the Hamidiya neighbourhood out of the city, I went to the committee to register my belongings there. After they confirmed my ownership, they gave me a signed document allowing me to pass through checkpoints and leave Deir al-Zor,” he said.

On the other hand, the committee also has critics in Deir al-Zor. Sa’ada, a legal activist in the city and a proponent of civil (non-Sharia) law, requested that his name be changed in order to avoid possible conflict with the Islamist factions in the city. He calls on the committee to consult with the city’s residents about their acceptance of Islamic Sharia as the sole legislative base for the country, and demanded that previous laws be applied.