Post by Willow on Jun 7, 2016 11:47:05 GMT 9.5
Fallujah civilians killed by Islamic State or tortured by Shia militias
And the horror just goes on and on ....
First they faced the executioners of Islamic State called in to punish them if they tried to escape Fallujah. Now the 50,000 residents still trapped in the central Iraqi city face the brutality of Shia militias “liberating” them.
Yesterday the Iraqi government ordered an inquiry into abuse by its forces in the battle to retake Fallujah from Isis as fleeing residents spoke of torture and killings.
One witness said he was reunited with relatives who had fled Saqlawiyah, north of the city: “Young and old men, they were tortured.” He said that they had been accused of being militants and were taken for a day to an anti-Isis “screening” process at Tariq, the Iraqi forces’ camp just east of Fallujah. “When they returned their shoulders were broken and they had many cuts on their body,” he said.
Sunni politicians from Anbar province in which Fallujah is located claimed that one resident had been tortured to death in the compound. “Families are separated from men in Tariq camp, the women don’t know where their husbands and sons have been taken,” said Leqaa Wardi, an MP. “Some of them are badly tortured, one died of torture. They said they have been waiting to get rid of Isis and now feel under a similar threat.”
Video footage showing captives from Tariq camp after their release featured bleeding men who could barely walk being treated by medics.
“They put us in a line, and locked the doors, one said ‘Abu Sajad says beat them hard’,” said one man, referring to an infamous Shia militia commander. Another describes militiamen stabbing captives. “We spent ten hours in the back of a truck, they stabbed one of them with knives, they killed him. We don’t know where they threw his corpse,” the distraught man said.
Reports yesterday said that 17 men suspected of being militants had been killed by Iraqi forces last week after being singled out as they fled Karma, north of Fallujah. Officials in Anbar confirmed the killings, which human rights group say may be a war crime.
Dozens of civilians escaping on the Euphrates on makeshift rafts were killed as Isis fighters fired on anyone trying to leave. Militants have booby-trapped bridges and exit routes with landmines and IEDs.
Most of the allegations of abuse were made against Popular Mobilisation Forces, a Shia militia, and the federal police who are fighting jihadists in Saqlawiyah. Civilians recorded stabbings, beatings and broken bones after their arrival at what was supposed to be safe ground. Harder al-Abadi, the Iraqi prime minister, has set up a rights committee to examine “any violation to the instructions on the protection of civilians”, his spokesman said. He also issued “strict orders” for prosecutions in the event of any abuses. Ali al-Sistani, the grand ayatollah and Iraq’s top shia cleric, issued a code of conduct for forces fighting Isis.
Iraq is fighting to retake Fallujah, which is 50 kilometres west of Baghdad and was Isis’s first major conquest before its declaration of a caliphate in 2014. Tens of thousands of federal police officers, Iranian-backed militiamen, counter-terrorism squads and soldiers attacked the city from three sides under cover from US coalition war planes.
They advanced in the south and north over the weekend after stalling because of fears for 50,000 residents held hostage by Isis in the city centre. Forces have encircled all but a western part of the Euphrates, commanders claimed.
Civilians in the city said that the 1,000 Isis fighters holding the town were panicking as food, water and medical supplies ran out. One man said that militants had shaved their beards and heads in order to “blend in” with 18,000 residents who fled the town.
Rights groups warned of a sectarian backlash as the Shia forces, only nominally under Mr Abadi’s control, vowed to move into Sunni-majority Fallujah. They said that the prime minister’s proposed committee of politicians was not enough to tackle the problem.
“The incidents which came to light on Friday and the allegations of torture could amount to a war crime,” said Christoph Wilcke, of Human Rights Watch. “We would like to see a military judge take care of the investigations rather than a committee pontificating on what is morally wrong,” he said.
Fallujah, the city of mosques, has been known as the historic seat of Sunni extremism since it was seized by al-Qai’da in 2004.
And the horror just goes on and on ....
First they faced the executioners of Islamic State called in to punish them if they tried to escape Fallujah. Now the 50,000 residents still trapped in the central Iraqi city face the brutality of Shia militias “liberating” them.
Yesterday the Iraqi government ordered an inquiry into abuse by its forces in the battle to retake Fallujah from Isis as fleeing residents spoke of torture and killings.
One witness said he was reunited with relatives who had fled Saqlawiyah, north of the city: “Young and old men, they were tortured.” He said that they had been accused of being militants and were taken for a day to an anti-Isis “screening” process at Tariq, the Iraqi forces’ camp just east of Fallujah. “When they returned their shoulders were broken and they had many cuts on their body,” he said.
Sunni politicians from Anbar province in which Fallujah is located claimed that one resident had been tortured to death in the compound. “Families are separated from men in Tariq camp, the women don’t know where their husbands and sons have been taken,” said Leqaa Wardi, an MP. “Some of them are badly tortured, one died of torture. They said they have been waiting to get rid of Isis and now feel under a similar threat.”
Video footage showing captives from Tariq camp after their release featured bleeding men who could barely walk being treated by medics.
“They put us in a line, and locked the doors, one said ‘Abu Sajad says beat them hard’,” said one man, referring to an infamous Shia militia commander. Another describes militiamen stabbing captives. “We spent ten hours in the back of a truck, they stabbed one of them with knives, they killed him. We don’t know where they threw his corpse,” the distraught man said.
Reports yesterday said that 17 men suspected of being militants had been killed by Iraqi forces last week after being singled out as they fled Karma, north of Fallujah. Officials in Anbar confirmed the killings, which human rights group say may be a war crime.
Dozens of civilians escaping on the Euphrates on makeshift rafts were killed as Isis fighters fired on anyone trying to leave. Militants have booby-trapped bridges and exit routes with landmines and IEDs.
Most of the allegations of abuse were made against Popular Mobilisation Forces, a Shia militia, and the federal police who are fighting jihadists in Saqlawiyah. Civilians recorded stabbings, beatings and broken bones after their arrival at what was supposed to be safe ground. Harder al-Abadi, the Iraqi prime minister, has set up a rights committee to examine “any violation to the instructions on the protection of civilians”, his spokesman said. He also issued “strict orders” for prosecutions in the event of any abuses. Ali al-Sistani, the grand ayatollah and Iraq’s top shia cleric, issued a code of conduct for forces fighting Isis.
Iraq is fighting to retake Fallujah, which is 50 kilometres west of Baghdad and was Isis’s first major conquest before its declaration of a caliphate in 2014. Tens of thousands of federal police officers, Iranian-backed militiamen, counter-terrorism squads and soldiers attacked the city from three sides under cover from US coalition war planes.
They advanced in the south and north over the weekend after stalling because of fears for 50,000 residents held hostage by Isis in the city centre. Forces have encircled all but a western part of the Euphrates, commanders claimed.
Civilians in the city said that the 1,000 Isis fighters holding the town were panicking as food, water and medical supplies ran out. One man said that militants had shaved their beards and heads in order to “blend in” with 18,000 residents who fled the town.
Rights groups warned of a sectarian backlash as the Shia forces, only nominally under Mr Abadi’s control, vowed to move into Sunni-majority Fallujah. They said that the prime minister’s proposed committee of politicians was not enough to tackle the problem.
“The incidents which came to light on Friday and the allegations of torture could amount to a war crime,” said Christoph Wilcke, of Human Rights Watch. “We would like to see a military judge take care of the investigations rather than a committee pontificating on what is morally wrong,” he said.
Fallujah, the city of mosques, has been known as the historic seat of Sunni extremism since it was seized by al-Qai’da in 2004.