ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Thirty years ago today, the former Iraqi Baathist regime under Saddam Hussein dropped barrels of poison gas on the Kurdish city of Sardasht in Iran, killing 140 civilians and wounding thousands others who until today live with their physical and psychological wounds.
Of the 8,000 confirmed cases of exposure to the poison gas and nerve agents on June 28 and 29 in 1987, only 1,380 have been officially registered by Iranian authorities. Of the registered cases, only 400 have received benefits from the Iranian government, according to the Sardasht Chemical Victims Society.
The vast majority of the unregistered are Kurds.
One year before the close of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, Saddam Hussein ordered a poison gas attack on the Kurdish city of Sardasht and surrounding villages in Iran’s Western Azerbaijan province.
Mustard gas and nerve agents were dropped on four areas of the populated region, killing 110 people instantly and injuring as many as 12,000 civilians. Since the day of the bombardment, 40 others have succumbed to their injuries.
To this day, the victims suffer both the physical and psychological effects of the deadly nightmare, but their suffering is ignored by the authorities in Tehran.
Many of the victims still suffer from lung, eye, and skin diseases. Mental health issues, including depression, are prevalent among the survivors.
"Thirty years after the incident, a large number of those affected by the chemical attacks have not yet been registered by the Iranian Disabled and Martyrs Department," read an announcement from the Sardasht Chemical Victims Society.
Twenty-two years ago, the Iranian government announced it would build a special advanced hospital where those affected by the Sardasht chemical attack could seek treatment, but only a single pharmacy has been set up, with many shortcomings.
According to Iranian law, persons disabled in conflict should receive benefits from the government, including a monthly allowance, employment assistance, payment of tuition fees, health insurance, and receive lands. Of the 1,380 registered cases, however, only 400 have received these benefits.
Economic malaise in the Kurdish regions has compounded the problem. It is harder for victims to find or keep jobs. Pent up anger against perceived government neglect of the Kurdish regions exploded in May 2015 in Mahabad and Sardasht when the death of a Kurdish hotel chambermaid under suspicious circumstances erupted in protests that turned violent.
Iran has been financially and socially supporting the victims of the eight-year war with Iraq, providing them with medical insurance and monthly payments. Yet most of the Kurdish victims have not been registered for support.
The specialized medicines needed by the victims are rare and expensive, and the number of clinics that can help them is small.
Nine months after the attack on Sardasht, in the closing weeks of their war, Saddam turned his poison gas on Iraq’s own Kurds, this time killing 5,000 in the village of Halabja on March 16, 1988.
