Tag Archives: iraq

Turk Bombings and Civilian Casualties in Northern Iraq

August 30, 2011 at 2:40 PM
Hundreds of Iraqi Kurds hold up torches

Iraqi Kurds hold up torches as they protest to denounce Turkey's latest bombing campaign on Kurdish separatist bases in northern Iraq. (Shawn Mohammed/AFP/Getty Images)

In the early afternoon of August 21, 2011 Hussain Mostafa Hassan, a 61-year-old Kurdish farmer from the village of Bolle near Mount Qandil on the Iraq-Iran border, was heading to the town of Rania, accompanied by six members of his family, when the car he was driving was bombed, reportedly by a warplane belonging to the Turkish armed forces.

Hussain Mostafa Hassan, his 43-year-old wife, Mer Haci Mam Kak, his daughter Rezan Hussain Mostafa, aged 20, together with her two daughters Sonia Shamal Hassan, aged two, and Sholin Shamel Hassan, aged six months, his son Zana Hussain Mostafa, aged 11, and his niece Oskar Khuzer Hassan, aged 10, all died as a result. Later their burnt bodies were taken to a hospital in Rania and buried the same day.

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Iraq Is Not Shining Example For Middle East

May 26, 2011 at 10:00 AM

© Joshua Roberts/Getty Images

It’s rare to hear Iraq described as “heaven,” but that is how a Christian Iraqi described his hometown in northern Kurdistan after returning to the US from a trip to visit his family there. Electricity, food and clean water are in abundance, and Christians live in peace with their Kurdish neighbors.

In his speech last week, President Obama stressed the United States’ support for universal rights, including the freedom of religion “whether you live in Baghdad or Damascus; Sanaa or Tehran.”

Later in his speech, he presented Iraq as an example of how other countries in the Middle East should proceed:

“In Iraq, we see the promise of a multi-ethnic, multi-sectarian democracy. There, the Iraqi people have rejected the perils of political violence for a democratic process, even as they have taken full responsibility for their own security. Like all new democracies, they will face setbacks. But Iraq is poised to play a key role in the region if it continues its peaceful progress.”

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Activists Rally In DC For Human Rights

April 18, 2011 at 7:10 PM

By Dana Watters, Amnesty Get On The Bus Volunteer

Even at nine in the morning on a Friday, when most of us would normally be counting down to the weekend, the energy in the Foundry in Washington, DC is phenomenal. In the sunshine outside, groups color flags in support of Filep Karma, while inside roses and key actions are passed around for signatures. Larry Cox hasn’t even arrived yet, and everyone is already buzzing with excitement.

By the time everyone has settled inside for the opening speeches, the count is well over one hundred Amnesty International activists. The various speakers infect the crowd with even more passion and anticipation, reaching a pinnacle when Larry announces that he has decided that joining us for Get on the Bus is more important than going home to meet with the IRS.

The group splits, half heading to demonstrate for the Women of Zimbabwe (WoZA) at the Zimbabwe Embassy and half for Walid Yunis Ahmad at the Iraqi Consulate. We march in long ovals, chanting and holding our signs, the very picture of peaceful protest. At the Iraqi Consulate, faces peer out from the windows and passers by stop to watch.

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Iraqi Government Sends Mixed Signals as Protests Continue

March 3, 2011 at 10:13 PM

On Friday Iraqis will take to the streets again in mourning over the 29 peaceful demonstrators who were killed last week in Baghdad’s Day of Rage. Among the protesters killed was a 14-year-old boy. As in previous protests, demonstrators will also demand political reform, an end to corruption, and jobs as well as clean water, food and electricity.

In an effort to prevent demonstrators from reaching Baghdad’s Tahrir Square on February 25, bridges and roads leading to Baghdad were closed off, a curfew was set in place and Al-Maliki said on television that Al-Qaeda operatives might be shooting people at the protests. Thousands of soldiers and riot police were deployed in the streets of Baghdad on the days of protests. Later “forces fired water cannons, sound bombs and live bullets to disperse crowds,” according to the Washington Post.

As February 25 approached Amnesty International and other human rights organizations called on the Iraqi government to respect the rights of protesters to assemble peacefully. Protesters who demonstrated before the Day of Rage had been attacked, beaten and stabbed by gangs. Besides the beatings, detentions and killings of protesters, Al-Maliki’s government detained around 300 peaceful demonstrators.

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Join Demonstrators in Chicago – Call for an end to Violence!

February 21, 2011 at 4:40 PM

Death tolls continue to rise in Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Iraq and other Arab countries as protesters demand their rights. Join demonstrators in Chicago and call on all governments to stop the violence every day until the violence ends:

6:30 – 7:30 pm at Daley Plaza
Dearborn and Washington, Chicago

Updates are on Facebook.

Iraqi prisoners on hunger strike demand better conditions

February 9, 2011 at 7:31 PM

Dozens of prisoners at Al-Hilla Prison in Iraq went on hunger strike on Sunday demanding better prison conditions including a solution to overcrowding, according to Al-Sharqiyah Television. Conditions of other prisons across Iraq and Kurdistan are not much better, with shortages of clean water and inadequate sanitation facilities, as well as poor ventilation, all of which continue to cause serious health risks.

Al-Hilla prison’s capacity is 750 but it currently holds over 1500 prisoners. This is a recurring problem in Iraq. In 2008 one prison was so overcrowded that detainees had to sleep in shifts. In 2010 about 100 detainees were crammed into two windowless vans designed to carry 20 people each, for a trip that took about one hour. As a result 22 detainees collapsed and seven died of asphyxiation.

In addition to poor prison conditions many prisoners report that they have no access to doctors or to needed medications. One example is Ibrahim ‘Abdel-Sattar who died in al-Kadhimiya prison on 29 October 2010. He was not treated for stomach cancer and was only taken to the hospital the day before he died.

Take action to improve prison conditions in Iraq by writing to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki. Send letters to the Iraqi Embassy at 3421 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20007.

Tweet for a Fair Trial of Walid Yunis Ahmad in Iraq

February 4, 2011 at 3:35 PM

Walid Yunis Ahmad, a Turkomen and father of three children who worked at a radio station, has been detained without charge in the Kurdistan region of Iraq since 2000. He was “disappeared” for three years and tortured. February 6th is the 11th anniversary of his detention.

Walid Yunis AhmadHis case may be familiar: he was included in Amnesty International’s Write for Rights   letter writing marathon in December, featured in our report “New Order, Same Abuses: Unlawful Detention and Torture in Iraq ,” and we’ve distributed action postcards on his case at our Regional Conferences last fall.

Recently we learned that Walid Yunis Ahmad has been charged, nearly 11 years after his arrest, for terrorism-related crimes which, implausibly, he is alleged to have committed from his prison cell. His lawyer believes the charges have been fabricated.

Walid Yunis Ahmad now faces the possibility of an unfair trial that could result in the death penalty.

We need your help to flood the Kurdish Regional authorities with Tweets, emails and letters on or around February 6th, urging them to ensure that Walid Yunis Ahmad receives a fair trial, without recourse to the death penalty. Here’s what you can do:

•    Send emails and letters to the Kurdish Regional authorities

•    Tweet the accounts of the Kurdish Prime Minster, Barhim Salih, at @barhamsalih and the Kurdistan Regional Government Representative in the US, Qubad Talabani, at @qubadjt.

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Thousands of Iraqis Demonstrate on Thursday

February 4, 2011 at 11:45 AM

In Baghdad and outside it, thousands of Iraqis took to the streets yesterday in solidarity with the Egyptian revolution, and to demand that the government supply basic needs to Iraqi citizens living in poverty as unemployment reached 45%.

About 1,000 Iraqis demonstrated yesterday at Al-Hamza, a town south of Baghdad, protesting food, water and power shortages. In Kut, also south of Baghdad, protesters called for the resignation of the provincial governor Latif Hamed. And after 3,000 protested at Al-Diwaniyya, authorities called a curfew in effect starting at 2 pm Thursday.

Religious leaders across Iraq called for social justice, reminding the Iraqi government that Iraq is not immune to the events that have swept other Arab countries.

In the meantime the Iraqi House of Representatives announced its support of the Egyptian people and its demands for democracy yesterday, according to a Radio Sawa reporter in Baghdad.

Good News: Qusay Case Resolved in Iraq

January 7, 2011 at 11:28 AM

I’m happy to share good news today: Qusay ‘Abdel-Razaq Zabib, a former police officer detained without charge in Iraq for over two years, has been released.

His case was detailed in Amnesty International’s September 2010 report New Order, Same Abuses: Unlawful Detentions and Torture in Iraq.  According to the report:

“Qusay ‘Abdel-Razaq Zabib, a 36-year-old police officer in ‘Uwaynat village near Tikrit, married with two children, was arrested on 17 July 2008 by US soldiers after he was summoned to attend a meeting at the police station where he worked.

He was taken to a US military post in Tikrit and held there for 21 days, then transferred first to Camp Cropper for three weeks and then Camp Bucca, where he was held for 11 months. He was then moved to Camp Taji for a month, then back to Camp Cropper for six months, then to Camp Taji once more, apparently because he was suspected of collaborating with armed groups.

On 3 March 2010, a few weeks before the Iraqi government assumed control of Camp Taji, the US military recommended that he be released but in early July he was still detained there, without charge or trial, and now in the custody of the Iraqi authorities. His family are able to visit him but two years after his arrest it remains unclear how long he will continue to be detained in the absence of any charges brought against him.”

Amnesty International called on the authorities to either charge and fairly try Qusay, or release him.

Qusay thanked Amnesty International for campaigning on his behalf and said that he plans to undertake training at a police academy in Baghdad and return to his former role as a police officer.

Of course, Amensty International’s campaigning to end unlawful detention and torture in Iraq continues. Amnesty’s report estimated that 30,000 people are detained without charge in Iraq. One of them is Walid Yunis Ahmad, held for over ten years without charge.  Hopefully, with your help, we’ll have good news on his case soon.

Amnesty Calls on Iraqi Government to Protect Christians

December 20, 2010 at 3:24 PM

As Christmas draws closer, Amnesty International calls on the Iraqi government to protect the country’s Christians who have been threatened, bombed, and displaced since the US invasion in 2003.

In February this year Christian families were killed in their homes in Mosul by unidentified armed groups. Later this year, on October 31, gunmen held worshippers hostage at Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad. After the Iraqi army stormed in, the gunmen detonated their explosive belts, killing more than 40 worshippers, including a priest.

Other places of worship have been bombed as part of the rampant sectarian violence since 2003, such as the attack on the Al-Askari Mosque in Samarra in 2006 and the targeting of various shi’ite shrines across Iraq. Not a month goes by in Iraq without suicide bombings taking the lives of tens of Iraqis of all religions, and injuring hundreds more. In August 60 army recruits of different religions were killed in a suicide bombing at the Baghdad Ministry of Defense Building. In February of this year 40 shi’ite pilgrims were killed, and in July another 28 pilgrims were killed in a suicide attack. More than 400 people were killed in bombings at Al-Qahtaniyya and other Yazidi villages in 2007.

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