The Standard (St. Catharines)

Skull fracture led to Niagara ISIL fighter’s death: Coroner

Cigarette burns and bruises found on body of Nazzareno Tassone

- STEWART BELL

The body of a former Niagara man killed by ISIL six months ago was covered with cigarette burns and bruises, according to the autopsy report sent to the family by Global Affairs Canada.

The coroner who examined the remains in the northern Iraqi city Erbil last week concluded the wounds suggested that Nazzareno Tassone had been beaten and tortured with ropes and cigarettes.

But those fa- miliar with the details believe it is more likely ISIL fighters mutilated his body after he was killed on Dec. 21 in Syria’s Raqqa province. Committing “outrages” on bodies is a war crime.

Tassone, 24, was one of the hundreds of internatio­nal volunteers helping Kurdish forces battle ISIL. His body was recovered last month by Kurdish People’s Protection Units fighters.

His casket is in Erbil, awaiting final approval for the return trip to Ontario. The Canadian Heroes Foundation is planning to escort him from Toronto to his native Niagara Falls for burial.

The coroner’s graphic report is yet another testament to the depravity of ISIL. Former ISIL members have alleged the terrorist group had cut up corpses and dragged them behind vehicles.

According to the two-page autopsy report by Dr. Yasin Kareem Amin, Tassone died of internal bleeding, the result of a skull fracture caused by a “heavy, solid instrument to the head.”

The death certificat­e said he was killed “due to outside strike.” It is unclear whether he was struck with an object, hurt in an explosion or fell as ISIL captured his position.

A Briton and three Kurds were also killed.

The autopsy report is striking for the long list of wounds noted by the coroner, from a broken rib and nose to bruises, “cigarette marks” and indication­s that his wrists had been bound.

Global Affairs Canada sent the report to Tassone’s mother last week, setting off several days of panic because the coroner had described the body as that of a man in his “mid-30s,” who was blond and 6-foot-3.

Tassone was a decade younger, had brown hair and was 5-foot-10. Also, witnesses said he had been shot in the hand, which was not noted in the coroner’s report. However, his identity was confirmed on Monday through photograph­s and dental records.

Born and raised in Ontario, Tassone left Edmonton a year ago, telling his mother he would be teaching English in Iraq. Instead he crossed into Syria and joined the Kurdish rebel faction known as the YPG.

“We joined an assault on a village, but were ambushed,” a fellow fighter wrote in a letter to his mother. “During the resulting firefight that lasted for four hours, Agir (Tassone) and Ryan (Locke, the Briton) were killed in their rearguard action.”

The day after he was killed, ISIL posted photos of his body that showed none of the wounds the coroner described — a further indication he was desecrated following his death rather than tortured.

His mother Tina Martino, a Niagara Falls casino dealer, had given up on getting his body back and was days away from holding a memorial service last month when the YPG said he had been found.

Outlining the Liberal government’s foreign policy priorities on Tuesday, Global Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland called ISIL a “scourge” and said its atrocities were a challenge to “the sanctity of borders and the liberal internatio­nal order itself.”

“They create chaos, not only because of the carnage they perpetrate on their innocent victims, but because of the humanitari­an crises and migratory explosions that follow. This is why the world has united against this scourge; violent extremism challenges our way of life. We will always oppose it.”

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