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A reporter has posted a new trove of IS documents online, mostly combat unit intake forms, w/o redactions. This release makes me viscerally uneasy & uncomfortable. A thread about grey areas #ethics 1/15
The journo notes there is no int’l tribunal to deal w/ IS & argues everyone should have access to docs. Journo is Lebanese, speaks Arabic, was given docs by civilians to photograph, reported on them, posted them publicly in full. (I& #39;m not posting link, ppl. can find on own) 2/15
Different situation than IS debacle at NYTimes, which involved theft of original docs (obtained via embed w/ Iraqi mil), sensationalism, & multiple violations of ethical journo practices, all by someone who couldn’t read docs herself 3/15 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/10/09/new-york-times-has-its-hands-full-with-review-caliphate/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/...
Why my discomfort? I was talking to @haydenschmidty, one of our @SAIShopkins MES students focused on political violence, a/b vigilantism. We both think unredacted doc release could spur (further) vigilante justice and revenge against innocent family members & communities. 4/15
As Nick Smith, @regina_bateson, @judithverweijen & other scholars have argued, extrajudicial violence/vigilantism emerge both due to state failings & because ppl. see legal systems as *improperly addressing certain crimes and perpetuating injustices* 5/15 http://democracyinafrica.org/contradictions-democracy-vigilantism-rights-post-apartheid-south-africa/">https://democracyinafrica.org/contradic...
Most Iraqis & observers who I spoke to on the ground have little faith in the IS trials. Elite and influential IS members can escape the system, e.g., through bribery. Forced confessions+5 minute trials+death penalty for others. 6/15 https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/01/1056142">https://news.un.org/en/story/...
Though, FWIW, @belkiswille noted in @ChathamHouse event this morning that trove of ISIS data out of Mosul improved formal process specifically in Tel Kayf IS court; judges started using that, rather than confessions (which often result from torture). 7/15 https://twitter.com/CH_MENAP/status/1329910421965443075?s=20">https://twitter.com/CH_MENAP/...
But extrajudicial violence certainly a huge issue in fmr IS-controlled areas (see @inquiry_org& #39;s work). Ppl such as @mararevkin and @kristenkao have documented how Iraqis think about IS collaboration and guilt. We have less robust data on Syria 8/15
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm?abstractid=3339144">https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Deli...
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm?abstractid=3339144">https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Deli...
Part of what worries me is that ppl. named in docs face v. diff risks depending on nationality. Syrians-who faced fundamentally diff choices than, say, Germans in terms of joining IS-might simply be disappeared or murdered by Syrian state or neighbors. Germans get a trial 9/15
I see a Russian or Turkish fighter who chose to move to Raqqa, drag family with him (or “marry” a child), & join a combat unit v. differently than a Syrian from Raqqa who might not have really had options once IS arrived. Context matters for justice; docs don& #39;t provide it. 10/15
My current thinking is that it would have been wise to anonymize the docs before posting publicly. Granted, de-identifying info goes far beyond names-the docs include PII such as where people are from, marital/social status, how many kids, what mosque they attended 11/15
From an academic perspective, I’m committed to do no harm. If I were going to use this material to draw scholarly conclusions, I wouldn& #39;t need ppl& #39;s names, specific hometown (someone could replace that with a code or region), specific mosque. Scholars aren& #39;t law enforcement 12/15
We can still learn a lot and draw conclusions about IS behavior without the details that can also easily facilitate people’s extrajudicial targeting and that can be used to justify/further justify blanket surveillance of specific Muslim communities in some countries 13/15
Should academics be using these docs? The question is moot. People will. While they likely won’t have to get ethics approval (docs, not human subjects), they (& reviewers) should still think about #ethics. I& #39;d expect articles that use these to provide ethics statement. 14/15
In long run, I think academics and journos might collectively consider how we ethically handle materials such as these when we encounter them, including on social media. Developing q& #39;s to ask ourselves & best practices might go a long way to avoiding unintentional harms. 15/15
