US military to punish culprits behind toxic waste dumping in Iraq

Oliver August

The American military has announced an investigation into its disposal of hazardous material in Iraq and declared its intention to prosecute anyone violating environmental standards.

The announcement comes after The Times disclosed that private contractors employed on US military bases had been dumping large quantities of oils, acids, filters and batteries in Iraqi scrapyards.

Three American generals faced a barrage of questions on environmental damage at a press conference called to explain the closure of US bases during the troop withdrawal that started last January and will end in December 2011.

Brigadier-General Kendall Cox, who is responsible for engineering and infrastructure in Iraq, said: “I share your concern with regards to anything that may or may not be left here in Iraq. As you know we have been here for over seven years. In that period we have accumulated several million pounds of hazardous waste.”

Anyone involved in the improper disposal of the waste is to be prosecuted. Brigadier-General Stephen Lanza, the US military spokesman in Iraq, said: “Those responsible for this will be punished. It is something that once brought to our attention, we take very seriously.”

The generals will send teams of experts to comb Iraqi and US facilities, hoping to establish how and where hazardous material was dumped.

The most likely culprits are private contractors employed by the Americans — Western and Arab — who dispose of the waste generated at the 500 bases that America at one time operated in Iraq. The number is down to fewer than 130, mirroring the reduction of troops from 176,000 at the height of the insurgency to 85,000 today.

The row over hazardous waste comes at a difficult time for the Americans. Once a new Iraqi Government has been formed after the swearing in of members of Parliament yesterday US officials will begin discussions about a future security agreement with Iraqi political and military leaders. Many Iraqi voters would like all US troops to leave but because Iraq needs help fending off hostile neighbours Washington may keep some sort of military presence beyond 2011.

All the more reason to clear up questions about the toxic legacy quickly. General Cox listed several lessons the US could learn from the row. Uppermost was the need to start the removal of waste sooner.

He said: “I think perhaps the lesson is that we create hazardous waste treatment centres earlier if there is a potential for us to have a long-term presence.” However, the general defended the use of civilian contractors by the military, of which there are roughly the same number as soldiers in Iraq. He said: “I absolutely believe that the contractors we have are doing a fantastic job. They maintain real good accountability of the hazardous waste at the disposal areas scattered throughout Iraq.”

The military appears committed to mending its ways but is still unable to see much beyond its existing processes. While acknowledging the misdeeds exposed by The Times military leaders insist that abuses are unlikely because “a good system” is in place

Related Links

• America leaves behind a toxic legacy in Iraq

• America must ensure legacy is not polluted

From The Times

June 15, 2010

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Vital River Is Withering, and Iraq Has No Answer

By STEVEN LEE MYERS

SIBA, Iraq — The Shatt al Arab, the river that flows from the biblical site of the Garden of Eden to the Persian Gulf, has turned into an environmental and economic disaster that Iraq’s newly democratic government is almost powerless to fix.

Withered by decades of dictatorial mismanagement and then neglect, by drought and the thirst of Iraq’s neighbors, the river formed by the convergence of the Tigris and the Euphrates no longer has the strength the keep the sea at bay.

The salt water of the gulf now pushes up the Faw peninsula. Last year, for the first time in memory, it extended beyond Basra, Iraq’s biggest port city, and even Qurna, where the two rivers meet. It has ravaged fresh-water fisheries, livestock, crops and groves of date palms that once made the area famous, forcing the migration of tens of thousands of farmers.

In a land of hardship and resignation and deep faith, the disaster along the Shatt al Arab appears to some as the work of a higher power. “We can’t control what God does,” said Rashid Thajil Mutashar, the deputy director of water resources in Basra.

But man has had a hand in the river’s decline. Turkey, Syria and Iran have all harnessed the headwaters that flow into the Tigris and Euphrates and ultimately into the Shatt al Arab, leaving Iraqi officials with little to do but plead for them to release more from their modern networks of dams.

The environment problem became particularly acute last year when Iran cut the flow entirely from the Karun River, which meets the Shatt south of Basra, for 10 months. The flow resumed after the winter rains, but at a fraction of earlier levels.

In the 1980s Iran and Iraq fought over the Shatt al Arab, which forms the southernmost border between the countries and is still littered with the rusting hulks of sunken ships from that war. Now, despite improved relations after the fall of Saddam Hussein, the river has once again become a source of diplomatic tension.

“The water is from God,” said Mohammed Sadoon, a farmer and fisherman in the village of Abu Khasib, who sold two water buffaloes last year because he could no longer provide them with potable water from the Shatt. “They shouldn’t seize it from us.”

Iraq’s minister of water resources, Abdul Latif Jamal Rashid, said that the environmental problems and the disputes over water rights were a lingering legacy of dictatorship.

Mr. Hussein diverted the southerly flow of water into a trench during the war with Iran and drained the marshlands of southern Iraq in the 1990s. His belligerence toward Iraq’s neighbors also left the country isolated — and then weakened — when those countries built their dams, siphoning off what for millenniums flowed through Mesopotamia, the land of the two rivers.

“Iraq was in a position neither to reject nor to cooperate with them,” he said in an interview in his office in Baghdad. “They did what they wanted to do.”

In Basra and in the villages that cling to the Iraqi shore of the Shatt, the impact of the disaster has been profound. The fresh waters that once flushed the canals of Basra — the Venice of the Middle East, it was called, though long ago — are fetid and filled with garbage.

The encroaching salt has so polluted supplies of drinking water that the government has scrambled to dig canals from the north that bypass the Shatt — Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki inaugurated one ahead of this year’s national election — and to truck in fresh water to much of the region. Anyone who can afford it avoids tap water, which is salty enough to leave spots on a glass when it dries.

Mr. Mutashar said that Iraq’s acceptable level of salt in the Shatt’s fresh water was 1,500 parts per million; last year the level reached 12,000.

Faris Jassim al-Imara, a chemist at the University of Basra’s Marine Science Center, said he had recorded levels as high as 40,000 parts per million, as well as heavy metals and other pollutants flowing from the north and from Iran’s oil refinery at Abadan, where enormous pipes steadily discharge waste water.

“It’s killing the river and the people,” he said. Here in Siba, across the river from Abadan, the salt water is slowly destroying agriculture, the primary source of income other than oil.

Jalal Fakhir, who with his brothers farms a plot of land that has been in his family for decades, lost his grape vines, five apricot trees, and his entire crop of okra, cucumbers and eggplants. The new date palms he planted two years ago have died; the older ones have held on, but their branches are yellowing, while the annual crop of dates has become meager.

Walking in his emaciated groves, he said, “This used to be paradise.”

Iraq’s leaders, struggling first with the post-Saddam Hussein strife and now with a political impasse that has delayed the formation of a new government, have so far been unable to do much to avert the catastrophe unfolding here, let alone reverse it.

Efficient water management throughout the country remains more a goal than a reality. The government is drafting plans to build its own dam on the Shatt — to keep the sea water out — but the cost and complexity of the idea remains prohibitive, according to Mr. Mutashar.

Iraq has held repeated talks with neighboring countries to increase the river’s flow, resulting in pledges of cooperation, but with a drought hitting the region in recent years, not much more water.

“If our government was good and strong, we would get our rights,” said Hassam Alwan Hamoud, the 71-year-old patriarch of a Bedouin family that lives in reed huts on the marshlands adjoining the Shatt near Abu Khasib. Instead, they move with their water buffaloes as the salt water dictates. “Our government just talks. They are weak.”

Mr. Rashid, the minister of water resources, said the problem was decades in the making and would take decades to address.

One benefit of the country’s democracy, he said, was that the problems had become public, something that did not happen under Mr. Hussein’s rule. “It has come to the surface now,” he said, “because Iraq is a free country.”

Zaid Thaker contributed reporting.

International Herald Tribune

JUNE 12 /2010

Related Article:

“The Iraq war poisoned the water—you can’t undo that, it’s there forever”

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Iraq war changes Tigris from river of life into river of death
Tigris River becoming a graveyard of bodies

The United Nations report:

BAGHDAD - The River Tigris has long been a symbol of prosperity in Iraq but since the US-led invasion in 2003, this amazing watercourse has turned into a graveyard of bodies.
In addition, the water level is decreasing as pollution increases, say environmentalists.
Pollution in the river is caused by oil derivatives and industrial waste as well as Iraqi and US military waste, they say.
The river was one of the main sources of water, food, transport and recreation for the local population but after four years of war and pollution, it has been transformed into a stagnant sewer, according to environmentalists.
Fishermen are prohibited from fishing where the river passes through the capital and all vessels are banned in the area.
“The situation is critical. The river is gradually being destroyed and there are no projects to prevent its destruction,” said Professor Ratib Mufid, an environment expert at Baghdad University.
“A large part of the river has been turned into a military area, forcing families to leave their homes around the riverbanks and close restaurants.
Fishermen are prohibited from fishing where the river passes through the capital and all vessels are banned in the area,” Mufid said.
The river is contaminated with war waste and toxins, and residents of the impoverished Sadr City suburb are often left with no alternative but to drink contaminated water from the Tigris.
This is why, specialists say, many Sadr City residents are plagued by diarrhea and suffer from recurring kidney stones.
In the hot dry summer months, when the water level drops, mud islands can be seen, and water levels appear to be decreasing every year.
“The problem of decreasing water flow starts in Turkey’s Taurus mountains. Between there and Kurdistan, many dams have been built which help to decrease the water flow.
The idea [of dam-building] was to prevent floods which over the years affected northern communities, but the consequence can now be seen with nearly half the previous water flow,” Seif Barakah, media officer for the Ministry of Environment, said.
Ban on shipping, fishing
Military forces have banned shipping and fishing in the river, and many families who depend for their income on fishing have been deprived of their means of survival.

Dead bodies

Every day local police haul bodies from the Tigris bearing signs of torture. Locals who live near the river constantly see floating bodies.
The situation is even worse in Suwayrah, a southern area of the capital, where the government has built barriers with huge iron nets to trap plants and garbage dropped in the river but now this is also a barrier for bodies.
“Since January 2006 at least 800 bodies have been dragged from those iron nets, and this figure does not include those collected from the central section of the river.
Most of the bodies are unidentified and buried without family claims,” said Col Abdel-Waheed Azzam, a senior officer in the investigation department of the Ministry of Interior.
According to Azzam, 90 percent of the bodies found in the river show signs of serious torture.
“Because of the state of the bodies, it is not useful to try to have an autopsy done, and if the bodies are not claimed within 24 hours they are automatically buried,” he said.

Highly polluted

During Saddam Hussein’s regime people caught dumping garbage in the river were punished, but today mountains of rubbish can be seen on the riverbanks; and these affect the normal watercourse and pollute the area.
“With dams decreasing the water flow, the salt level rises and in conjunction with the high level of pollutants dumped in the river by northern cities, this reduces oxygen levels, making an unpropitious environment for any living being,” Barakah said.
Fishermen said that years ago it was easy to catch a fish in the river but today even if you use nets it is practically impossible to catch a fish and many can be found floating, having died of pollution and lack of oxygen.
“Today, the only fish you can catch are those floating and which died from pollution after ingesting toxic waste and eating rubbish,” said Ateif Fahi, 56, a fisherman in the capital, Baghdad.

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Iraq’s Civilians Under Fire: Better protection urgently needed


Amnesty International today called on the Iraqi authorities to urgently step up the protection of civilians amid the recent surge of deadly violence in the country.
A new Amnesty International report, Iraq: Civilians Under Fire, documents how hundreds of civilians are being killed or injured each month. Many are specifically targeted by armed groups because of their religious, ethnic or sexual identity or because they speak out against human rights abuses.
Ongoing uncertainty over when a new Iraqi government will be formed has led to a recent spike in attacks, with more than 100 civilian deaths in the first week of April alone.
“Iraqis are still living in a climate of fear, seven years after the US-led invasion. The Iraqi authorities could do much more to keep them safe, but over and over they are failing to help the most vulnerable in society,” said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Director.
Amnesty International is urging the authorities to do more to protect those who are particularly at risk and bring those responsible for violent crimes to justice, without recourse to the death penalty.
While Iraqi security forces, foreign troops or family members are responsible for some human rights abuses, most killings of civilians are carried out by armed groups, including al-Qa’ida in Iraq. The organization remains a significant presence in the country despite the recent reported deaths of three senior leaders.
Human rights defenders, journalists and political activists are among those who have been killed or maimed in Iraq because of their work. Omar Ibrahim Al-Jabouri, the head of public relations at Rasheed TV station, only just escaped with his life in an attack on 13 April 2010. He lost his legs after being caught in an explosion of a bomb attached to his vehicle as he was driving to his office in Baghdad.
Religious and ethnic minorities also continue to be targeted for attack, with at least eight Christians killed in Mosul in February 2010 in apparent sectarian attacks. Christian students Zia Toma, 22, and Ramsin Shmael, 21, were stopped by unidentified gunmen on 17 February 2010 at a bus stop in Mosul who demanded to see their identity cards. When the gunmen opened fire, Toma was killed and Shmael was injured but survived.
Women and girls are particularly at risk of violence from both armed groups and their relatives. Few men are known to have been convicted of rape in Iraq. Women frequently suffer at the hands of relatives, in so-called honour crimes, if their behaviour is seen to go against traditional moral codes, for instance by refusing to marry men who have been selected for them. Activists have also been targeted for speaking out in favour of women’s rights.
Members of the gay community in Iraq, where homosexuality is not tolerated, live under constant threat of violence, with some Muslim clerics urging their followers to attack suspected homosexuals.
Authorities frequently fail to carry out thorough and impartial investigations into attacks on civilians, arrest suspects or bring perpetrators to justice. In some cases, they are even accused of being implicated in violent attacks.
As a result of the ongoing insecurity, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, including a disproportionately high number of minority communities, have been forced to flee their homes. Internally displaced people and refugees are even more vulnerable to violence, as well as economic hardship.
Amnesty International is calling on the Iraqi authorities to immediately introduce measures to improve the safety of civilians. They should consult with members of at-risk groups to see how best they can protect them.
In the meantime, the authorities must begin properly investigating attacks on civilians and to hold perpetrators, whoever they are, responsible for their crimes in accordance with international law. They should immediately disarm all militias and end the identification of religious affiliation on identity cards.
All armed groups in Iraq should immediately end human rights abuses, including attacks against civilians, abductions and torture.
Amnesty International is also calling for an end of all forcible returns of refugees to Iraq as long as the country remains unstable. Several European governments are forcibly returning people to Iraq – including to the most dangerous parts of the country – in direct violation of guidelines set out by UNHCR, the UN refugee agency.
Amnesty International has spoken to several Iraqis who were forcibly returned by the Netherlands government on 30 March 2010. Among the 35 refugees was a 22-year-old Shi’a Turkoman man from Tal Afar, a city north of Mosul, where hundreds of civilians have been killed in sectarian or other politically motivated violence in recent years, and where the violence continues unabated. As of mid-April, he remained stranded in Baghdad.
“The continuing uncertainty as to when a new government will be formed following last month’s election could well contribute to a further increase of violent incidents of which civilians are the main victims. The uncertainty is threatening to make a bad situation even worse. Both the Iraqi authorities and the international community must act now to prevent more unnecessary deaths,” said Malcolm Smart.
Note to editors:
Case studies outlined in Iraq: Civilians Under Fire include:
1. Sardar Qadir, a businessman and Goran candidate in Iraq’s parliamentary elections, was wounded in the leg on 4 December 2009 when he was shot at through a window at a relative’s home in the Iskan district of Sulaimaniya. He told Amnesty International that he had not received threats but that he thought he had been followed in the preceding weeks and that the attack was politically motivated.
“I cannot put the blame on any particular party. However, I am a victim of the lack of democracy we are suffering from.”
2. In April 2009, Amnesty International interviewed several Iraqis who had recently fled due to the violence they were facing because they were gay men. Hakim, a 34-year-old man from Najaf, reported that his partner had been kidnapped and abused by members of the Mahdi Army in October 2008, apparently after they had found out about their secret relationship. Following his release, both men received death threats from the Mahdi Army, including on one occasion a note that was delivered with three bullets.
3. Kurdistan Aziz was 16 years old when she disappeared in May 2008 from her home in the Kolkarash village near Heran, Erbil. In February she had run away with her lover but later returned to her family after they signed an agreement guaranteeing her safety. On 21 May 2008, her father informed the local police his nephew had confessed to her murder. As of early 2010, he remained at large.
26 April 2010

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Killing of civilians in Iraq attacks condemned as 'war crimes'

Amnesty International has condemned the killing of civilians in a series of suicide bombings and shootings by armed groups in Iraq on Monday, which left over 100 people dead and 350 wounded.
The attacks on a textile factory, markets and police and army checkpoints were carried out in the town of Hilla, the southern city of Basra, the capital Baghdad and other cities.
"Yesterday, was the deadliest day so far this year in Iraq, said Malcolm Smart, director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Programme. "Some of the attacks appear to have deliberately targeted civilians and to have been intended to cause maximum loss of life. If so, such attacks constitute war crimes. We condemn them utterly. Those responsible must cease these murderous attacks.”
"Civilians are continuing to pay a very heavy price for the ongoing divisions in Iraq."
"The political vacuum resulting from the failure of Iraqi political leaders to agree on a new government, two months after the 7 March election, is fuelling instability and being exploited by armed groups, in particular al-Qa'ida and its supporters, to cause further mayhem and suffering."
Leaders of the major political groups in Iraq have so far failed to garner enough support to form a government following the national elections, which did not produce a clear winner.
Two suicide car bombers drove into a textile factory in Hilla, south of Baghdad on Monday afternoon. A third bomb exploded as rescue workers arrived on the scene. At least 45 people were reported killed and 190 wounded.
On Monday evening, three car bombs exploded in Basra - the first in the central market, the other two in a residential area in the north of the city. Reports say that 21 people were killed and more than 70 others were wounded.
Earlier on Monday, suicide bombers killed 13 people and wounded 40 in a market place in al-Suwayra, 50 km (30 miles) southeast of Baghdad.
The day of attacks started at dawn in Baghdad, when gunmen killed at least seven Iraqi soldiers and policemen when they attacked six checkpoints. Bombs planted at three other checkpoints wounded several more, according to reports.
Further attacks in the western province of Anbar, the northern city of Mosul, the outskirts of Baghdad and elsewhere took the death toll to at least 102.
On 27 April 2010 Amnesty International published Iraq: Civilians under fire, highlighting the plight of the Iraqi civilian population and the targeting of particular vulnerable groups by armed groups, government forces and others in Iraq.
11 May 2010

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Writer Killed Over a Poem in Iraq
John Lundberg

The murder of a young man named Zardasht Osman earlier this month called attention to the growing problem of government crackdowns on journalists and writers in Northern Iraq , and reminds us not to take our freedom of speech here for granted.

The ruling party of Kurdish-controlled Northern Iraq , under president Massoud Barzani, is under growing scrutiny by international watchdog organizations for its intolerance of criticism in the press. The New York Times reported that the party's security forces "are often accused of intimidating, threatening and assaulting journalists affiliated with opposition parties or critical of the corrupt patronage system fostered by the two governing parties."

Osman drew the attention of the security forces a few weeks ago when he penned a satirical poem decrying the nepotism and cronyism that runs rampant in Barzani's administration. He was abducted in front of the university he attended, and his body was found handcuffed and shot dead on a roadside four days later.

Some are accusing Barzani's security forces of carrying out the killing, and the event has led to demonstrations in the city of Sulamaniyah drawing over a thousand protestors. Barzani's government has denied any involvement and claims it will investigate, but many remain doubtful -- the security forces responsible for the investigation are run by Barzani's son.

Michael Rubin of National Review Online published a translation of the poem that resulted in Osman's death. He noted, "for anyone that wants to know what it takes for a politician in Iraqi Kurdistan--which calls itself secure and democratic--to order your death, here it goes." Here's an excerpt:

I am in love with the daughter of [Iraqi Kurdistan president] Masud Barzani, the man who appears here and there and claims he is my president. I would like him to be my father-in-law and also I would like to be a brother-in-law with [former Prime Minister] Nechirvan Barzani.

If I become Masud Barzani's son-in-law, we would spend our honeymoon in Paris and also we would visit our uncle's mansion in America . I would move my house from one of the poorest areas in Erbil to Sari Rash [Barzani's palace complex] where it would be protected by American guard dogs and Israeli bodyguards.

I would make my father become the Minister of Peshmerga [the Kurdish militia]. He had been Peshmarga in September revolution, but he now has no pension because he is no longer a member of Kurdistan Democratic Party.

I would make my unlucky baby brother, who recently finished university but is now unemployed and looking to leave Kurdistan , chief of my special forces.

My sister who has been too embarrassed to go to the bazaar to shop, could drive all the expensive cars just as Barzani's daughters do.

Here in the U.S. , we are free to fill our newspapers, airwaves and web pages with scorn for our politicians (and we do), but even our freedom of speech has its limits. A case concerning a very angry Kentucky man is now testing those limits. He recently published a 16 line poem called "The Sniper" that describes an assassination mission to kill President Obama (it reportedly included the line "Die Negro Die"). His attorneys are arguing that the poem should be protected as art, but he could face up to five years in prison for threatening to kill the president. Most, I'm sure, would consider that a reasonable line for our government to draw. The tragic death of Mr. Osman reminds us of how far Iraq has to go before its citizens can even have that debate.
John has been writing and teaching poetry for the last 10 years. He is a recent Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University .
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A Poem to Die For


I am in love with the daughter of [Iraqi Kurdistan president] Masud Barzani, the man who appears here and there and claims he is my president. I would like him to be my father-in-law and also I would like to be a brother-in-law with [former Prime Minister] Nechirvan Barzani.

If I become Masud Barzani’s son-in-law, we would spend our honeymoon in Paris and also we would visit our uncle’s mansion in America . I would move my house from one of the poorest areas in Erbil to Sari Rash [Barzani’s palace complex] where it would be protected by American guard dogs and Israeli bodyguards.

I would make my father become the Minister of Peshmerga [the Kurdish militia]. He had been Peshmarga in September revolution, but he now has no pension because he is no longer a member of Kurdistan Democratic Party.

I would make my unlucky baby brother, who recently finished university but is now unemployed and looking to leave Kurdistan , chief of my special forces.

My sister who has been too embarrassed to go to the bazaar to shop, could drive all the expensive cars just as Barzani’s daughters do.

For my mother, who is diabetic and has high blood pressure and heart problems but who is not able to afford treatment outside Kurdistan , I would hire a couple Italian doctors to treat her in the comfort of her own house.

For my uncles, I would open few offices and departments and they, along with all my nieces and nephews would become high generals, officers, and commanders.

All my friends said Saro, let it go and give it up for otherwise you will get yourself killed. The family of Mulla Mustafa Barzani [Masud Barzani's father] can kill anyone they want, and they surely will.

I told them I did not commit blasphemy and I swear to the dagger of [Masud's late brother] Mustafa Idris Barzani that my father had spent 3 nights with him on the same mountain [during the fight against Saddam] and so why not say those things? Masud Barzani claimed himself that he is a president, and I would ask him how may time has he visited Erbil and Sulaymani in the last 18 years?

My problem is this man, Masud Barzani, is so tribal that so arrogant that he does not recognize anybody from even the other side of Sari Rash. With a few clicks, I can out more about any leaders’ wives in the world but I have no idea who my mother-in-law would be and what she looks like.

I have no idea who I should take with me to ask Masud Barzani to give me his blessing to marry his daughter. From the beginning, I thought I should take with me few religious figures, some respectful old men and some old peshmerga, but one of my journalist friends told me that I should find some Saddam collaborators and those who participated in the Anfal operation [ethnic cleansing in the late 1980s] with Saddam because they are all around Masud now and he likes them. Another friend suggested that I should go to one of news conference of Nechirvan Barzani and make friends with him and ask him to do me a favor. However, if he doesn’t help, then I can ask Dashne [a Kurdish singer] because she meets them frequently and might help out.
.....................
Aryan Baban, a Kurdish correspondent, has translated the satirical poem by Sardasht Osman, a young student and journalist, the publication of which apparently led the Iraqi Kurdish government to kill him. I have translated it for grammar only. For anyone that wants to know what it takes for a politician in Iraqi Kurdistan—which calls itself secure and democratic—to order your death.

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Iraq: Kurdistan authorities must investigate abduction and murder of journalist

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) must take immediate steps to investigate the abduction and murder earlier this week of Sardasht Osman, aged 23, a university student who worked as a journalist for the Ashtinamenewspaper in Erbil, capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. His abduction and murder follows a spate of other attacks on journalists and other critics of the KRG’s two main political parties in recent years for which no-one has yet been brought to justice.
Sardasht Osman, a final year student at the Universityof Salaheddin in Erbil, was abducted from outside the university on 4 May 2010 by a group of unidentified armed men. They forced him into a car and drove away. He was not seen alive again. His body was found in Mosul on the morning of 6 May 2010. He had been murdered.
Prior to his death, Sardasht Osman wrote articles for Ashtiname newspaper, which is published in Erbil and other publications. According to Kurdish media websites, he had recently published an article in Ashtinamewhich criticized a senior Kurdish political figure following which, according to his brother, Bashdar, he received anonymous threats to his mobile phone.
It appears that the abduction and murder of Sardasht Osman may be the latest in a series of attacks that have been carried out against independent journalists and other critics of the KRG authorities in recent years. There has been an emerging pattern of attacks on those who have criticized leading members and officials of the two main political parties in the Kurdistan Region - the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), headed by Mas’oud Barzani, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), headed by Jalal Talabani – which jointly form the KRG. The attacks, mostly physical assaults but including some killings, have generally been carried out by unidentified men in plain clothes who are widely suspected of being agents of or connected to the Parastin and Zanyari, the party security and intelligence organs of, respectively, the KDP and the PUK.
Amnesty International is calling on the KRG authorities to institute immediately a thorough, independent investigation into the abduction and murder of Sardasht Osman and other attacks on journalists and others in the Kurdistan Region and areas under the effective control of the KRG, and for those responsible to be brought to justice in full conformity with international law.
I guess for the Barzanis (and Talabanis), George Orwell's maxim still holds true: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-lundberg/writer-killed-over-a-poem_b_576817.html

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Open letter to Iraq’s political leaders

As Iraq prepares to hold new parliamentary elections amid continuing controversy over the eligibility of many candidates, Amnesty International is appealing to the country’s political leaders to ensure that both the election campaign and the vote on 7 March are conducted peacefully and fully conform with Iraq’s obligations under international human rights law.

The elections must not be used as an excuse for further violence

Political leaders must demand that their supporters uphold the law and respect the rights of others, and help prevent the election being used to deepen the sectarian violence that has wracked the country in recent years. They must do all they can to ensure the safety and security of all Iraqis, without discrimination, and uphold their rights to freedom of expression, association and political participation in selecting those who will lead the country in the future.

Amnesty International is also calling on all political parties and their candidates to commit to protecting and promoting human rights in their election manifestoes and in practice, if and when they are elected to office, in full conformity with Iraq’s obligations under international human rights law.

Those responsible for suicide bombings and other attacks against civilians must immediately end such attacks, many of which appear to constitute crimes against humanity – crimes of the very gravest nature. Amnesty International condemns all attacks on civilians, utterly and unreservedly, and calls for their immediate cessation. There can be no justification whatever for such attacks.

The following human rights concerns must be addressed by all political parties, their candidates, supporters and others:

Safeguard civilians and their right to vote

The protection of civilians is paramount during elections if voters are to feel assured that they can exercise their right to vote without fear and intimidation.

Iraq’s civilian population has borne the brunt of the continuing violence that has ravaged the country in recent years and the record from previous elections is grim. Dozens of civilians were killed in attacks before the last provincial elections on 31 January 2009. The last national parliamentary elections, held on 15 December 2005, saw dozens of civilians killed in attacks by Sunni armed groups and Shi’a militias in the weeks before and during polling.

Amnesty International appeals to all political party leaders and to all religious and community leaders and other persons of influence to speak out against further violence, bloodshed and human rights abuses. They must demand that all Iraqis are able to decide freely and without fear how to exercise their right to vote.

Protection of candidates and election workers

Candidates, party political activists and election workers are among those most likely to be targeted for kidnapping and killing in the run-up to the elections.

At least two candidates have already been killed. Soha ‘Abdul-Jarallah, a candidate on the list of former prime minister Iyad ‘Allawi, was gunned down as she left a relative’s house in Mosul on 7 February 2010. Sa’ud al-‘Issawi, a Sunni Arab and candidate for the Iraqi Unity Alliance (IUA), was killed with his two bodyguards at the end of December 2009 in Falluja by a magnetic bomb attached to their vehicle.

Safa ‘Abd al-Amir al-Khafaji, the head teacher of a girls’ school in Baghdad’s al-Ghadi district was shot and seriously wounded by unidentified gunmen on 12 November 2009 soon after she announced that she would contest the elections as a candidate for the Iraqi Communist Party.

‘Ali Mahmoud, a staff member of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), the body responsible for overseeing the elections, was shot dead outside his house in al-Jadiriya district in Baghdad on 17 December 2009.

Nine candidates were killed at the time of the last provincial elections and, at Mandali in Diyala governorate, two election workers were abducted and found shot dead only hours later. Several candidates were killed during the 15 December 2005 poll. For example, Mizhar al-Dulaimi, the leader of the Free Progressive Iraqi Party, was shot dead while campaigning in the centre of Ramadi on 13 December.

Amnesty International calls on the present government, the IHEC and all political party leaders to make every effort to ensure that candidates and elections workers are allowed to go about their legitimate activities freely and without fear or restraint, and are promptly provided with adequate protection whenever appropriate.

Reporting the election: safeguarding journalists

In recent years, Iraq has been one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, many of whom have been targeted for abduction, assassination or other abuses. In 2008, at least 16 journalists and media workers were reported to have been killed; in 2009, at least four were killed.

During theprovincial elections of 2009 journalists were subject to harassment, arrest and assault while covering the elections, including by Iraqi security forces and the US military. Some were arrested and held for hours; others were reported to have been prevented from entering polling stations – for example, in Falluja and in al-Hilla - although they had been officially accredited by the IHEC. In Mosul, Iraqi soldiers reportedly fired on journalists’ vehicles.

Before and after the July 2009 elections for the Kurdistan regional parliament, several journalists were assaulted, including Nebaz Goran, editor of Jihan, an independent magazine, who was attacked by three unidentified men outside his office in Erbil.

Preventing journalists from reporting on elections inevitably increases the risk of election fraud and rigged voting and deprives the public of information to which they have a right to know.

Amnesty International urges all Iraqi political leaders to uphold the right to freedom of expression enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: (“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information”), and to uphold the right of all journalists legitimately to exercise their profession without hindrance and fear of harassment.

Commitment to protect and promote human rights

All political parties and their candidates must recognize that respect for human rights and international law is a fundamental obligation. They must commit to building peace, tolerance and respect for human rights if elected, including upholding the rule of law by committing to ending arbitrary detentions, torture and other ill-treatment, unfair trials, the use of the death penalty and impunity for those responsible for human rights violations.

They must also ensure that Iraqi legislation is made fully compatible with international human rights law, including legislation relating to women’s rights, and is enforced in practice in accordance with Iraq’s obligations under international law.

Political parties, candidates and all others with influence, including religious and community leaders, must speak out about the need to protect and safeguard the rights of those most vulnerable. This includes women, who remain subject to legal and other discrimination and violence, and others who are subject to persecution because of their religious, ethnic orsexual identity.

In Mosul, for example, at least 14 members of the Christian minority have been killed in targeted attacks since early December 2009 as political tensions rise further ahead of the 7 March poll. A spate of recent bomb attacks by armed groups appear to have been deliberately targeted in an attempt to fuel the sectarian divide and further violence between Sunni and Shi’a Muslims.

Amnesty International urges that all Iraqis, including members of ethnic and religious minoritygroups, must be free to cast their votes without any pressure or intimidation.Women play a transformative role in building and supporting a non-sectarian society. To counter threats to women in conflict-affected situations, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 urging states to ensure increased participation of women in conflict resolution and peace-building processes, as well as development and reconstruction.

Ending abuses by armed groups

Amnesty International demands that all armed groups immediately cease and desist from carrying out attacks on civilians. Many of these attacks constitute crimes against humanity, crimes of the gravest magnitude under international law. Such crimes cannot be justified under any circumstances. Those responsible must be brought to justice.Thousands of civilians, including women, children and members of religious and ethnic minority groups, have been killed as a result of suicide and other attacks carried out by armed groups. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of civilians have also been abducted, tortured and killed by armed groups.Many bombings and other attacks on civilians have been carried out by al-Qa’ida in Iraq and its allies among Sunni armed groups. Other attacks and abuses have been committed byarmed militias, some of which are linked to Shi’a political parties represented in the current government and parliament. Amnesty International continues to call for these armed militias to be disbanded.All attacks on civilians must cease forthwith. The Iraqi people must be allowed to live their lives in peace and security and be allowed to enjoy and exercise their human rights freely and without fear.Amnesty International urges all political leaders and activists, and all religious, community, business and other leaders and people of influence in Iraq to speak out and commit to the achievement of this objective.

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