Iraq : Opening of mass graves for crimes, terrorism and ISIS
Iraqi authorities have opened 105 mass graves in the country so far belonging to Saddam Hussein, the pages of terrorism, and ISIL crimes.
According to Kadhim Awid, head of the Martyrs Foundation in Iraq, these tombs are among the 210 mass graves in the country.
Iraq has three types of mass graves, with an official department working on them: the ones left behind by the Saddam regime, the ones left behind by terrorism after 2003, and the ones left behind by ISIL after 2014.
He said : “The sites left behind by the former regime and identified by the Department of Affairs and Protection of Mass Graves, 98 of which were opened, only 76 were opened.”
Meanwhile, 112 Fatah cemetery have been abandoned by ISIL terrorist gangs, 29 of them, Awid was quoted by Iraq’s al-Sabah newspaper as saying.
The total number of remains removed from these graves is 6,393, and a number of graves have not yet been included in the plan of the Martyrs Foundation, in addition to the presence of many undiscovered sites.
Mass grave teams are working in co-ordination with the Ministry of Health’s Department of Forensic Medicine and the International Commission for Missing Persons to explore the fate of those missing in the country’s wars and terrorism.
The Iraqi official acknowledged that there are difficulties facing mass graves, including the lack of financial resources to implement their plans, the Coronavirus pandemic, and the difficulty of moving between provinces. However, work is ongoing, taking into account these limitations.
