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The Anfal Campaign Against the Kurds A Middle East Watch Report Human Rights Watch New York · Washington · Los Angeles · London Copyright © July 1993 by Human Rights Watch. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Library of Congress Card Catalog Number: 93-79064 ISBN: 1-56432-108-8 |
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In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate The Venerable Chief and Leader, the Honorable Saddam Hussein (May God Protect Him), President of the Republic and Head of the Honorable Revolutionary Command Council: Struggling Comrade, I greet you. And I present myself to you as a devoted citizen. I implore you in the name of Ba'athist Justice to hear my plight, which has deprived me of sleep night and day. For I lost all hope and when I had no one left to turn to except yourselves, I came to you with my problem, which may be of some concern to you. Sir: I, the undersigned, Assi Mustafa Ahmad, who returned as a prisoner of war on August 24, 1990, am a reserve soldier born in 1955. I participated in the Glorious Battle of Saddam's Qadissiyat in the Sector of Al-Shoush and was taken prisoner on March 27, 1982. I remained a prisoner until the day that the decision to exchange prisoners of war was issued. Then I returned to the homeland and kissed the soil of the Beloved Motherland and knelt in front of the portrait of our Victorious Leader and President Saddam Hussein. In my heart I felt a tremendous longing to return to my family. They would delight in seeing me, and I would delight in seeing them, and we would all be caught up in an overwhelming joy that could not be described. However, I found my home completely empty. My wife and my kids were not there. What a catastrophe! What a horror! I was told that the whole family had fallen into the hands of the Anfal forces in the Anfal operation conducted in the Northern Region, under the leadership of Comrade Ali Hassan al-Majid. I know nothing of their fate. They are:
2. Jarou Assi Mustafa, born 1979/ My daughter. 3. Faraydoun Assi Mustafa, born 1981/ My son. 4. Rukhoush Assi Mustafa, born 1982/ My son. [signature] Former Prisoner of War
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In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate Republic of Iraq
Date: October 29, 1990 Mr. Assi Mustafa Ahmad
With regard to your petition dated October 4, 1990. Your wife and children were lost during the Anfal Operations that took place in the Northern Region in 1988. Yours truly,
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Preface
A
Note on Methodology
Introduction
Chapter
One: Ba'athis and Kurds
Kurdish
Autonomy and Arabization
Exploiting
Kurdish Divisions
1985-1987:
Open War
Chapter
Two: Prelude to Anfal
The
Chemical Threshold
The
Spring 1987 Campaign: Village Destruction andResettlement
Early
Uses of al-Majid's Special Powers
Orders
for Mass Killing
Defining
the "National Ranks": The Census of October 17, 1987
Chapter
Three: First Anfal: The Siege of Sergalou and Bergalou, February 23-March
19, 1988
The
March 16 Chemical Attack on Halabja
The
Fall of the PUK Headquarters
Chapter
Four: Second Anfal: Qara Dagh, March 22-April 1, 1988
The
Exodus from Qara Dagh
Flight
to Southern Germian
Chapter
Five: Third Anfal: Germian, April 7-20, 1988
The
Plan of Campaign: (1) Tuz Khurmatu
The
Plan of Campaign: (2) Qader Karam and Northern Germian
The
Plan of Campaign: (3) Sengaw and Southern Germian
The
Collection Points
The
Ambiguous Role of the Jahsh
Chapter
Six: Fourth Anfal: The Valley of the Lesser Zab, May 3-8, 1988
The
Chemical Attacks on Goktapa and Askar
The
Anfal Dragnet: East of Taqtaq
The
Shwan Area
Zbeida's
Story
The
Fourth Anfal Collection Points 18
Chapter
Seven: Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Anfals: The Mountain Valleys of Shaqlawa
and Rawanduz, May 15 -August 26, 1988
The
PUK's Last Stand
Chapter
Eight: The Camps
The
Popular Army Camp at Topzawa
The
Popular Army Camp at Tikrit
The
Prisoners from Bileh and Halabja
The
Women's Prison at Dibs
A
Prison Camp for the Elderly
Deaths
at Nugra Salman
Chapter
Nine: The Firing Squads
Muhammad's
Story
Ozer,
Omar and Ibrahim
Mustafa's
Story
Taymour's
Story
Chapter
Ten: Final Anfal: Badinan, August 25-September 6, 1988
Badinan
on the Eve of the Final Anfal
"Apples
and Something Sweet": The Chemical Attacks of August 25 269
On-the-Spot
Mass Executions
The
Fort at Dohuk and the Women's Prison at Salamiyeh
Chapter
Eleven: The Amnesty and its Exclusions
Dispersal
of
the Camp Survivors
The Mujamma'a
Dumping Operation
The
Fate of the Christians and Yezidis
Chapter
Twelve: Aftermath
Continued
Village Clearances
Continued
Mass Killings: Yunis's Story
Continued
Mass Killings: Hussein's Story
The
End of the "Exceptional Situation"
Chapter
Thirteen: The Vanishing Trail
The
Ba'ath Party: Alpha and Omega of the Anfal Campaign
Appendices
Appendix
A: The Ali Hassan al-Majid Tapes
Appendix B: The Perpetrators of Anfal: A Road-Map to the Principal Agencies and Individuals
Appendix C: Known Chemical Attacks in Iraqi Kurdistan, 1987-1988
Appendix D: Sample Mass Disappearances During Anfal, by Region
Appendix E: Glossary of Arabic and Kurdish Terms