A more sceptical academic than Paul McKeigue might perhaps have wondered if the emails flooding into his inbox from “Ivan”, a purported Russian spy, were too good to be true. Ivan appeared to share many of McKeigue’s own personal obsessions, particularly his desire to discredit investigators who compile evidence of war crimes committed in Syria. But McKeigue was not writing to a Russian spy, or even a man called Ivan. The CIJA collects documentary evidence from Syria so that war criminals can be held legally responsible for atrocities. “We knew they would not just go after the organisation but the leader, Bill Wiley, and they would say: ‘He’s a spy.

Source: The Guardian March 28, 2021 08:15 UTC