>>International Alliance for Justice condemns the exactions perpetrated by the death squads of Saddam Hussein’s regime
International Alliance for Justice
March 27, 2003
Endless surveillance deters uprising attempts
Iraqi society, which is under endless surveillance and tight control, is maintained in a state of permanent terror. Saddam Hussein has consistently used periods of conflict to tighten control of the population and increase repression within Iraq. This is also the case today as the regime is struggling to survive.
The regular security services include the Directorate of General Security, the Republican Guard (80,000 men), the Special Republican Guard (30,000 men), the people’s militia, the military intelligence and security services, which are all overseen by Saddam Hussein’s younger son Qusai. In addition, there are 1,500 special forces who are responsible for the personal protection of Saddam Hussein, the Baath party militias and Saddam’s Fedayin, who for the most part now don civilian wear.
The latter entity includes a special unit called ’death squads’ whose members are responsible for executions and in particular the decapitation of women which have occurred since October 2000. In addition to these forces, the Jerusalem liberation army forces the population to arm itself. It is also used for the control and surveillance of the population and it includes special forces which are deployed in the Bassora and Kirkuk areas, which are considered sensitive by the regime. Finally, the secret services include three intelligence sections: the Amn (internal security of the state), the Estikhbarat (military intelligence) and the Mukhabarat.
Those are the paramilitary groups in charge of spreading terror and performing the dirty work for Saddam Hussein’s regime. The members of such groups, who benefit financially and receive promotion for the confiscation of goods by the thousands, are the leaders of the current resistance. On March 24, 2003, an official of Saddam’s Fedayin positioned in the city of Mosul declared on Arab satellite televisions that the population must carry weapons to kill American and British soldiers.
The Iraqi leaders have unfortunately learned from the 1991 uprising and have taken drastic measures to prevent any uprising attempt. It is thus forbidden to leave homes during the raids and those who go against that order are immediately executed. Lieutenant Khalaf Al Jabouri, a member of the Fedayin and of the Baath party leadership in Mosul, has received permission to promote those who show allegiance to the regime leadership by terrorizing the population. Those who refuse to obey the orders of Saddam’s Fedayin are immediately executed.
These death squads will probably use the population as human shields as a defence in the coming days. Many Iraqis are also prevented from fleeing the cities.
Information that comes from inside Iraq: executions, arrests and bombing of villages Many officers of the regular Iraqi army, which comprises 350,000 soldiers, have been executed. For example, the dead body of Salih Daoud Moutlak was returned to his family in the district of Al Thwara, sector 46 in Baghdad. He is said to have been executed for refusing to obey the regime. The Iraqi militiamen have a right of life and death over the population. This was verified by every investigation carried out by International Alliance for Justice. The militiamen are scattered among the population where they spread terror. Their participation in the crimes of the regime leaves them with no other choice but to fight. The already martyred population will rise up only when it is certain that the regime’s special forces are on the verge of collapse.
The population has no choice but to avoid being the victim of exactions and to try to survive. We have received information from different sources about a demonstration which took place in Karbala on Friday, March 14, after a religious ceremony. The demonstration was immediately crushed, leaving 300 dead.
In the South of Iraq, Ali Hassan Madjid, also known as Ali Chemical is the leader of the repression and the forces. He was responsible for the use of chemical weapons in Iraqi Kurdistan during the Anfal operations in the 1980’s. Ali Hassan Madjid is said to have personally executed the son of the chief of the Al Bazoun tribe, based in the sub-prefecture of Al Meimouna (Missan province). The family was given no explanation whatsoever about the reasons of this murder. In Al Diwanyia (Al Qadisiyah), militiamen executed Sheikh Mohammed Al Shami, who was accused of being the leader of an Islamic organisation opposed to the regime. In Bassora, Ali Chemical ordered the execution of 7 Baath party members, who were accused of failing to obey instructions.
Several sources have reported the arrests and executions of regular army officers in Baghdad by death squads. Major Fawaz Khalaf al Jarjari, Colonel Ismail Dara Abush, Major Jalal Aïd Knatab, members of unit 221 belonging to the Ninawa sector in Baghdad, were arrested and transferred to Abu Ghreb, for alleged collusion with the enemy. These arrests are a warning that is sent in order to control the forces in charge of air defence. Several waves of arrests have taken place in the Shiite districts of Al Schorta al Khamessa, Al-Amil as well as Al Beya, where 30 people were accused of attempting to target public buildings. Three officers from the Al Rachid air base in Baghdad, who refused to organise suicide operations at the start of the war (Hashim Abdulreza Abid, Zamil Zabun Al Daraji and Lieutenant Majid Ali Kamar Al Roubeiy), were also executed.
16 Kurds were executed and several Kurds and Turkmens were arrested in Kirkuk, during the week that began on March 17. The absence of media, not authorised to enter the city, and the regime propaganda prevented any coverage of these events.
On March 21 and March 24, the Iraqi forces shelled several villages of the Kirkuk region in Shwan and Sheikhbizeni, as well the zones close to villages already destroyed by the army like Hadji Jerjis, Maroudja and Neybassara, then Duradj in the district Newdjul, Ban Asyaw and its surroundings, Omar Mandan and Turkmanbakh in the plains of Khalkhalan, Naw Shwan, the region of Shwan and Qara Hassan.
In the same region of Kirkuk, the Iraqi regime is using the forces of the People’s Mujahidin (militias opposed to the government in Tehran), that are positioned on the road between Qader Karem and Kirkuk. Known for their responsibility in violent exactions against the Kurdish population in 1991, the Mujahidin remain among the forces loyal to Saddam Hussein’s regime.
According to other information, in the city of Souq Al Shuyukh, located in the province of Nassiyryah, instructions were given to the leadership of Baathist militia to convince parents of children to be designated for suicide operations against foreign military forces. Thus, Abbas Hassan, a member of the Al Jouebr tribe, was called to the office of Saddam’s Fedayin for the district of Souq Al Shuyukh for his fourth and last son called Mohammed. This man, who had already lost three of his sons in the first two Gulf wars, protested to the local leaders of the Fedayin, underlining the fact that the sons of officials had not been sent to the battlefield since 1980. He and his son were immediately executed by militiamen in front of the town hall.
The death squads are scattered in each province, as well as inside the towns centres and villages. Behind the regular troops, militias belonging to Saddam’s Fedayin and special and military security services prevent any attempts to desert or to rebel. Hundreds of officers, high-rank officers, or party members who attempted to escape and find refuge are said to have been executed. 79 officers and high rank officers belonging to the 11th and 51st divisions brigades were arrested and executed by paramilitary units in the headquarters of military secret services in the central and southern regions.
Conclusions and recommendations
This information shows how repression is still taking place against the Iraqi population in order to prevent any uprising attempt and to eliminate the elements that could potentially resist the regime. It confirms what many Iraqis have always claimed: the Iraqi population cannot get rid of such a system without support.
International Alliance for Justice repeats its condemnation of the repression of the population by the militias of Saddam Hussein’s regime, at a time when the regime’s propaganda is trying to make the world believe that the population is resisting. Iraqis have no other choice today than to protect their own lives and their relatives’, who are threatened by groups known for their extreme violence towards the population.
Measures in order to protect Iraqis’ fundamental rights, such as the deployment of human rights observers, have received scarce support from the international community. The lack of such measures is critical as the verification of information is currently a very difficult task.
International Alliance for Justice expresses great concern about such information and calls upon the members of the United Nations to investigate these exactions and to deploy human rights observers on the entire Iraqi territory as soon as possible.
International Alliance for Justice renews its call for the creation of an ad hoc International Tribunal in order to judge Iraqi leaders for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
Contact : Françoise Brié, International Alliance for Justice, 33 1 48 00 03 20, aij@noos.fr <<
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