On 27-28 October 2025, the IIJ with the generous support of the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and the United States Department of State, Bureau of Counterterrorism, and in partnership with the Public Security Directorate of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, organised a Battlefield Evidence Workshop for criminal justice practitioners from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
This workshop built on the IIJ’s multi-year Battlefield Evidence Initiative, which assists frontline counter-terrorism practitioners in leveraging information and material collected by military forces or other actors in conflict zones for use in civilian criminal justice proceedings, including in cases related to foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) and associated individuals. It brought together over 40 judges, prosecutors, law enforcement officers, and military practitioners from Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Türkiye, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
Six representatives from key multilateral institutions also participated, including from NATO, INTERPOL, the Council of the European Union, the Arab Interior Ministers Council, and the Arab Center for Legal and Judicial Research under the League of Arab States.
The workshop aimed to foster the exchange of comparative approaches and good practices on the lawful and effective use of battlefield evidence, including physical and digital material and information derived from miliary, intelligence, or other sensitive sources, in terrorism investigations and prosecutions.
Through a mix of expert panel presentations and hands-on group discussions, participants explored concrete methods for identifying, obtaining, and sharing information and materials from conflict zones, and for using such evidence in criminal proceedings related to terrorist offences. The workshop thus provided a unique platform to translate comparative experiences into actionable guidance that will help advance justice and accountability for terrorism-related and other offences linked to conflict zones in the MENA region and beyond.
The event also provided an opportunity to highlight the guidance contained in the Comparative Practices on the Use of Information Collected in Conflict Zones as Evidence in Criminal Proceedings, which the IIJ developed in partnership with the Council of Europe Committee on Counterterrorism. This landmark resource was published in December 2024 and formally launched in Berlin, Germany, on 16 October 2025, with support from the United States Department of State and the German Federal Ministry of Justice.
Through this programme, the IIJ continued to strengthen the capacity of criminal justice practitioners to bring terrorist actors to justice lawfully, effectively, and sustainably, contributing to regional and global security.