Hossein Mojtahedi

Hossein Mojtahedi is a lecturer and PhD candidate at the Criminal Law and Criminology department, Faculty of Law. He holds a Master in International Crimes, Conflict & Criminology (Cum Laude) from VU Amsterdam, a Master in Criminal Law and Criminology (Summa Cum Laude) and a Bachelor in law (Summa Cum Laude). He is currently working on his PhD project on ‘Transitional Justice and Prevention of Radicalization in Iraq’s post-IS (Islamic State) Landscape’. Combining legal doctrinal analysis and empirical (field)work, his multidisciplinary project aims to develop feasible, context-specific and locally-inspired transitional justice mechanisms combined the potential to integrate calls for justice and long-lasting peace on the one hand and prevent or limit the risk of future radicalization on the other hand. He is a research fellow at the Center for International Criminal Justice (CICJ) and teaches in the MSc programme International Crimes, Conflict & Criminology (ICC) and Law in Society Bachelor’s programme at VU Amsterdam.

Transitional Justice and Prevention of Radicalization in Iraq’s post-IS (Islamic State) Landscape

December 2017, the Iraqi government announced the defeat of Islamic State (IS) and referred to this ‘post-IS landscape’ as a new page in the history of Iraq. Although the security situation has improved considerably over the past years, this is not the first time that Iraq celebrates the anniversary over radical Islamists. A cursory scan of Iraq’s post-2003 invasion history underlines a recurring ‘cycle of violence’ of this fragile state; sectarian wars, systematic human rights violations, terrorist acts and widespread international crimes have continuously been committed by various radicalized groups, including IS.

Taking this violent past into account, there is an obvious need to develop feasible and context-specific transitional justice mechanisms combined the potential to integrate calls for justice and long-lasting peace on the one hand and prevent or limit the risk of future radicalization on the other hand. Given the deep-rooted sectarian tensions, the culture of tribalism, political exclusion and the disturbed collective identity in Iraq, formulating and implementing such an integrated framework may, however, prove to be very challenging. Combining legal doctrinal analysis and empirical (field)work, this innovative multidisciplinary project aims to provide practical and feasible suggestions for transitional justice which is accompanied by locally-inspired models for prevention of radicalization in Iraq’s post-IS landscape.

• Transitional Justice
• Terrorism & Security
• Diversity
• Master theses
• Bachelor theses

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