Gapilon recalls notorious Anfal campaigns done in the area

Genocide‌‌ 02:54 PM - 2021-03-03

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The citizens of Gapilon sub-district in the Sulaymaniyah Governorate recalled the notorious Anfal campaigns against the people of Kurdistan.

 

Barzan Rauf, the mayor of Gapilon district in a speech on the occasion of the 33rd anniversary of the Anfal campaigns called on the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to provide more services necessary for the borders of Gapilon district, which witnessed gruesome acts done by the past Baathist regime.

 

Thirty-three years ago, the Baathist regime bombed the Jafayati plain and carried out the first phase of the notorious Anfal operations from the Jafayati area, and these operations led to the death and disappearance of hundreds of the people of the region.

 

Anfal is a campaign that took place in 8 stages, during the rule of the dictatorial regime, against the people of Kurdistan during the years 1987-1988, which resulted in the martyrdom of more than 182,000 citizens, most of them women and children, for no reason other than their Kurdish identity.

 

The stages of the Anfal campaigns:

 

* The first Anfal: Sulaymaniyah, besieging Sargallu on February 22 until March 19, 1988.

 

* The second Anfal: Sulaymaniyah's Qardagh, Bazian and Darbandikhan regions from March 22nd until April 1, 1988.

 

* The third Anfal: Garmian region including Kalar, Bawnur, Kufri, Douz, Sengaw, Qadir Karam, on April 20 of the same year.

 

* The fourth Anfal: The boundaries of Small Zab plain, meaning the area of ​​Koya, Taq Taq, Aghjeler, and Nawshwan, on May 3 to May 8, 1988.

 

* The fifth, sixth and seventh Anfal: the vicinity of Shaqlawa and Rawanduz on May 15 until August 26.

 

*The eighth Anfal: The last phase took place in Badinan, Amedi, Akre, Zakho, Sheikhan, Dohuk, from August 25 until September 6 of the same year.

 

Anfal was a mass killing campaign, genocide, and organized extermination according to all standards. This means that the Anfal was the first step to annihilate the Kurdish community and the destruction of villages in Kurdistan, as the strategy of the Anfal campaigns was to destroy all the defensive capabilities of the Kurdish community.

 

The Anfal crimes that caused the death of over 182,000 innocent Kurdish people began with military operations and were divided into eight stages. The first phase of the campaigns began in the Sulaymaniyah region on February 22, 1988, and the final phase of the Anfal campaigns, known as the Anfal conclusion, was in the Badinan region on September 6, 1988. All kinds of internationally prohibited weapons were used during the Anfal campaign, especially chemical weapons such as mustard, cyanide, nerve gas, and phosphorous.

 

According to international norms and standards for crimes, the Anfal campaign falls within the framework of genocide crimes by every means, and this fact was clearly indicated in the report of international organizations monitoring human rights. The Anfal file entered the Iraqi High Criminal Court and on August 21 2006, a pleading was given on the Anfal in Baghdad court, where the court issued its decisive decision on the Anfal file, and accordingly, the Anfal crimes were defined as genocide.

 

The Anfal file included the names of hundreds of defendants who were the main perpetrators of these crimes, but only these accused were questioned and tried (Saddam Hussein, Former President of the Republic of Iraq, Ali Hassan al-Majid, Secretary of the North Office of the Baath Party, Sultan Hashem, the Army Commander, Saber Abdul Aziz al-Douri, Head of the Military Intelligence Organization, Hussein. Rashid al-Tikriti, deputy in charge of implementing the Anfal campaigns, Taher Tawfiq al-Ani, governor of Nineveh, Farhan Mutlaq al-Jubouri, military intelligence official in northern Iraq).

 

Judgments issued against the defendants in the Anfal case:

 

On Sunday, June 24, 2007, the Iraqi High Criminal Court for the Crimes of Anfal sentenced five defendants to death and life imprisonment in the Anfal case.

 

1- Execution by hanging of the accused Ali Hassan Al-Majid, nicknamed Chemical Ali, after he was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity in the Anfal crimes.

 

Judge Muhammad al-Araibi al-Khalifah, who presided over the session, said: The court convicted the accused Ali Hassan al-Majid of applying the policy of the fallen Baath Party and the goals of ousted Saddam Hussein in northern Iraq and ordering the army and security forces to use chemical weapons in a large-scale attack that resulted in the death of thousands of citizens from the Kurds.

 

2- The death sentence by hanging for the accused, Sultan Hashem Ahmed Al-Tai, Minister of Defense.

 

3- The death sentence by hanging for the accused, Hussein Rashid Al-Tikriti, Deputy Chief of Staff.

 

4- Life imprisonment sentence for the accused, Saber Abdulaziz Al-Douri, Director of Military Intelligence.

 

5- Life imprisonment sentence for the accused Farhan Mutlaq Al-Jubouri on charges of participating in preparing for the crime of genocide.

 

6- The judge dropped the charges against Taher Tawfiq Al-Ani, former governor of Nineveh due to lack of evidence.

 

 

 

PUKmedia