ISIS destroy deeds in Mosul sparking fears that minorities will lose ownership

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Islamic State militants have reportedly collected and burned all deeds to houses and land in Mosul and issued owners with new ownership documents, a Kurdish official said on Friday.

 

“After forcefully seizing the documents, on Friday August 5, Daesh [ISIS] organization torched all the house and land deeds and documents from [the time of the] Iraqi government in Mosul,” Saeed Mamuzini, who was the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s representative in Mosul before the city was taken over by the Islamic State, told Rudaw.

 

Mamuzini added that ISIS militants have printed new deeds and documents bearing the ISIS logo and given them to those occupying homes and land in the city. The fear is that property owners who fled the city and whose houses have been taken over by others will now have problems establishing ownership of their houses and land.  

 

This destruction of the deeds threatens minorities in the region, Mamuzini said, “Because [any house and property of] Kurdish families who fled ISIS in the region has been occupied by an Arab family.”

 

Homes and property of Yezidi and Christian minorities have also been appropriated by the militant group.

 

ISIS militants took over Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city in June 2014, and the city has been the group’s main stronghold in Iraq for more than two years.