War crime complaint filed against Iraqi in Norway who 'confessed to killing children' in Syria

A human rights group has filed a legal complaint in Norway against an alleged Iraqi fighter who appeared to confess to killing civilians in Syria's war while fighting alongside President Bashar al-Assad's forces. 

The Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM) said they had made a complaint to the War Crimes Unit in Norway over the Iraqi man, who has been living in the country for six years. 

The organisation referenced a number of videos circulating online in which the man says he killed civilians while fighting the opposition as a member of Iraq's Popular Mobilisation paramilitary (known as Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic). 

"The suspect also revealed that he killed several Syrian children without specifying the exact tally, and that the youngest of these children was around a month old," said SCM, in a statement. 

"According to the video, he killed the one-month-old baby who was in the arms of his crying mother. The videos also include death threats against Syrians residing in Norway."

The SCM demanded "the opening of a structural investigation" and said the police confirmed receipt of the complaint on Monday.

The Hashd al-Shaabi, a paramilitary unit formed in 2014 by Iraqis to fight the Islamic State group, has been among the foreign forces who travelled to Syria to aid the Assad government against opposition rebels.

The group, as well as other foreign fighters, has been accused of carrying out arbitrary detentions, torture and other abuses across the country.

Syria's ongoing conflict has raged since 2011 when security forces loyal to Assad opened fire on peaceful pro-democracy protesters, eventually sparking a civil war and foreign interventions that ultimately ensured Assad's survival.

The war has killed more than 500,000 people and driven millions from the country, turning them into refugees. 

In recent years, a number of Syrians have been prosecuted for war crimes in Europe.  

Last year, a former senior Syrian government security official was sentenced to life in prison in Germany, accused of overseeing dozens of murders at an interrogation facility near the beginning of the war.