In wider reporting the GoI has come in for some exceptionally critical analysis and exposure in the wake of the Haweeja camp attacks that sparked the most recent bout of bloodletting in Iraq.
A preliminary parliamentary committee report based in part on witness interviews and given to Human Rights Watch claims the GoI was complicit in the countrys recent descent into chaos and that top Iraqi officials ordered a raid on a demonstrators’ camp on April 23, 2013, in Haweeja.
During the operation, scores of protesters and some soldiers died. The report provides evidence that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, the defense minister, and senior defense and interior ministry officials may well have ordered the raid, although it does not address what orders they issued concerning the use of force. It does claim that the defense minister and senior defense and interior ministry officials did not respond to warnings of excessive use of force by the security forces.
Members of a separate ministerial committee named by Maliki to investigate the episode however told Human Rights Watch that they seriously doubt they will be able to complete their work as they were being stymied at every level of government. The ministerial committee is inadequately resourced, stymied by lack of cooperation from security forces, and it is unlikely to lead to prosecutions or even if they will be able to publish their conclusions, committee members told Human Rights Watch.
The ministerial committee has so far failed to interview any witnesses to or participants in the raid on the demonstration, raising serious doubts as to the government’s intent in this matter.
According to both committees and media reports, on April 23, army soldiers, federal police, and SWAT forces fired on a crowd of about 1,000 demonstrators in Haweeja. The Defense Ministry said that 23 people were killed, including an army officer, two soldiers, and 20 “militants who were using the demonstration as a safe haven,” in confrontations between security forces and demonstrators.
The parliamentary committee’s investigation indicates that security forces killed 44 civilians, ranging in age from 13 to 55, and one soldier, in the raid on the demonstration and ensuing clashes. All died from injuries resulting from live fire, according to the report, which cited local coroners’ reports. Iraqi authorities have not held anyone accountable for giving the orders to shoot on the demonstrators or for carrying out the shootings.
The parliamentary investigative committee interviewed 14 witnesses to the attack. It did not interview soldiers who were present because, the committee said, its members were prevented from speaking to the soldiers by higher-ranking officials. The report indicates that senior officials gave orders for army, federal police, and SWAT forces, all of which fall under Maliki’s military office, to invade the demonstration site, remove demonstrators, and level tents. In meetings with Human Rights Watch, senior officials agreed with these claims.
The investigation remains in limbo at this point in time and much remains to be seen as to whether the GoI will use the opportunity to act. In doing so they could potentially send a strong message of unity and accountability to the disenfranchised Sunni community, howere like so much in the political domain it will more likely become lost amongst the weeds.
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