LONDON (Dispatches) -- Three refugees are arguing the UAE funded war crimes by Daesh terrorists in the war on Syria in a landmark case in British legal history.
The men, who are from Syria but are now asylum seekers in the UK, claim Arab officials financed human rights abuses in the war-torn country in 2015.
They said they saw severe torture, vicious beatings and property destruction committed by takfiris they say were armed by the Persian Gulf state.
One claimant testified “the smell of corpses and death spread in my beloved town, and there was no life left in it”.
The three are pursuing legal action against the UAE through the High Court in England.
The claim would be the first of its kind as they seek to blow apart the use of the sovereign immunity defense in cases involving human rights abuses, such as torture.
If successful, it would open the floodgates for people to hold foreign state sponsors of militant and terror groups to account through UK courts.
The war on Syria is an ongoing conflict over the past decade that has seen at least 387,118 killed. A further 205,300 people are either missing or presumed dead.
The London-based refugees - Mohamad Damen Alsulaiman, Ahmad Sharaf and Mohamed al Saeid - got their lawyers to launch a pre-action protocol against the UAE, paving the way for court proceedings.
In it they accused the country of funding takfiris during the chaotic war in 2015 and claimed they saw UAE-made weapons, equipment and aid packages.
Alsulaiman, a builder and construction worker from Nabe’ al-Sakhr, a 1,800-strong dwelling in the Quneitra Governorate, said the area became a hotbed for takfiri activity in 2014.
He said: “All groups committed

crimes, damages, bombing, torture and killing. They are all armed militias.
“They tortured and killed many people; they refused our style of life which is liberal compared to theirs. They wanted us to convert to their radical ideology.”
He said terrorists were wandering around with guns called CAR 816 or Caracal Sultan, which are similar to M16s but used by the UAE.
Alsulaiman claimed some of them had been gifted personal weapons called Caracal pistols, which also hail from the Arab state.
He also said one of his family bought food from the market which was wrapped in an Emirate flag, which he claims shows UAE involvement on the militants’ side.
He added that the relative told him they were three long-life meals sold by tafiri fighters.
Sharaf, from Nawaa in Daraa Governorate, who had been at school while in Syria, said Daesh and other takfiris took over the area in 2015.
On the UAE’s alleged involvement, he said: “Sometimes we could hear the fighters speak in their Arabic standard dialect which is different from Syrian dialect about the delayed money and salaries and sometimes about aid and food packages from Emirati red crescent through abu Qotada, a Daeshi fighter, who come on weekly basis to their headquarters on the borders of my town.
“They always talked about ‘the Abu Dhabi Sheikh’ (another one not Abu Qotada) which will come again.
“I understood from what they said that there was a man who is in charge of supervising their work and paying their salaries.”
He claimed his family saw fighters giving aid to people as well as food packages along with flyers saying “a gift from emirate people”.
Jamal al-Attar from the International Federation of Human Rights said: “The testimonies of the Syrian refugees have shaken me to my core.
“We all know the war in Syria has been an abject societal failure, but the international community cannot ignore the UAE’s direct involvement in financially supporting the perpetrators of war crimes.
“The legal action in London will set a precedent whereby it will incriminate those governments even if ‘’symbolically’’ and will prohibit future involvements which will deteriorate the Middle East.”
Tom Charles, Director of The Tactics Institute for Security and Counter Terrorism, added: “Despite Biden’s warning in 2014 and some attempts to legislate against it, the UAE remains a perfect platform to channel illegal funds due to jurisdictional complexity, which includes two financial free zones and 29 commercial free zones, and proximity to conflict zones.
“Whether through willful negligence or not, terrorist organizations must have their purse strings cut.
“We will never defeat terrorism if we do not stand up to the weak financial regulation that feeds violence, abuse and extremism.”