ISIS Forces Kill Iraqi Shiite Prisoners after Iraqi Guards Flee
Iraqi Shiites unfortunate enough to be confined in Badush prison, 25 kilometers from Mosul, Iraq, were summarily slaughtered by ISIS forces after their Iraqi prison guards fled the advancing insurgents. Lieutenant Colonel Ali Mohammed, who apparently served as the warden of that institution, which contained several hundred residents of Sunni, Shia, Kurdish, and Christian ethnicity, said that in June of 2014 the prison was captured, its prisoners removed, and then destroyed.
However, for non-Sunni Iraqi prisoners, their liberation was only temporary. According to Human Rights Watch, who interviewed former prisoners and other observers from the area, ISIA, comprised largely of Sunni Muslims, separated the non-Sunnis from the other prisoners and eventually released most of them. However, it was a different story for the other prisoners.
Forced to board trucks commandeered off the highway by ISIS fighters, the prisoners were driven to a remote area in the desert, forced to kneel in front of a trench, and then shot dead in a fusillade of bullets. A mere handful, perhaps 30 in all, managed to escape by feigning death and remaining silent until their executioners left the area. Hundreds died from their wounds.
The United Nations Human Rights Council in September ordered a UN investigation into this and other crimes committed by ISIS, including the massacred of Shia Iraqi soldiers who had surrendered. According to Letta Tayler, a senior terrorism and counterterrorism researcher, “People of every ethnicity and creed should condemn these horrific tactics, and press Iraqi and international authorities to bring those responsible to justice.”
UN officials also noted that there were additional massacres of Sunni Iraqis by Iraqi security forces, as well as by Shia militias, that also probably constituted war crimes. The UN called for the transfer of all remaining Iraqi prisoners to be transferred to more secure facilities closer to their families so that they might receive regular visits, and be safe against future threat by hostile forces.
Sources: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news, www.dailymail.co.uk.news
As a digital subscriber to Prison Legal News, you can access full text and downloads for this and other premium content.
Already a subscriber? Login