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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Comments made by an Iraqi MP on the forced disappearance and displacement of Sunnis in Iraq have sparked several days’ worth of controversy.
Dhafer al-Ani, an Iraqi MP of the Sunni Iraqi Forces Alliance, said in a speech in Cairo before the Arab Parliament, the legislative body of the Arab League, that Iran-backed militias have committed “serious” human rights violations in Iraq.
"There are more than 10,000 missing Iraqi people whose fate is still unknown, and a systematic kidnapping and terrorization operation is taking place against protest leaders,” Ani said. “There are 100,000 Iraqis in Jurf al-Sakhar who are prevented by militias from returning to their homes, in a despicable endeavor of demographic change.”
Jurf al-Sakhar, whose name was changed to Jurf al-Nasr after the defeat of the Islamic State (ISIS) in the area in 2017, is a predominantly Sunni town in Babil province, central Iraq. The town was evacuated of its more than 120,000 residents over the course of the ISIS war, leaving only the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and the backed Iranian and state-sponsored Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic).
A 2019 report from the United Nations said that Sunni Arab families were vulnerable to forced disappearances.
Both the Iraqi Security Forces and the PMF have not allowed people to return to Jurf al-Sakhar, claiming that the area is dangerous because of mines planted by ISIS during its control of the town.
The now defunct Babil Governorate Council voted in August 2017 on a bill to file a lawsuit against any of the politicians who demand the return of Jurf al-Sakhar people to their homes, considering the area an "incubator of terrorism." The UN mission in Iraq condemned the decision, calling it an attempt to "intimidate politicians" and discourage them from performing their duties. It also said that the return of the displaced to their liberated areas "is a fundamental right that must be respected."
In his speech at the Arab Parliament, Ani called for Iran-backed militias to be put on an international list of terrorist entities, saying they should be treated as a terrorist group like ISIS.
On Monday, deputy parliament speaker Hassan al-Kaabi called on Iraqi MPs to vote to dismiss Ani from their parliament as his statement was “sectarian and full of lies”.
Kaabi said that the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights (IHCHR)said in an official letter sent to Parliament that there are no cases of enforced disappearance in Iraq.
"It turned out that some of those whose relatives claimed to be kidnapped fled Iraq because they were convicted for terrorism and affiliation with ISIS,” Kaabi said in a statement.
Like the Babil Governorate Council, Kaabi called Jurf al-Sakhar area an incubator for terrorists, and “a safe haven for al-Qaeda, and then ISIS.”
The Iraqi Forces Alliance led by parliament speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi issued a statement on Monday, rejecting Kaabi’s comments.
"There are thousands who have been kidnapped in Saqlawiyah, Bazibiz, Jurf al-Sakhar, and Nineveh, and authorities that kidnapped them are supposed to be known to the government,” the statement reads.
The head of the Parliamentary Committee of Martyrs and Political Prisoners, Khalaf Abd al-Samad, issued a statement on Tuesday accusing the Iraqi Forces Alliance of spreading false information.
“We strongly reject any possible arbitrary measure against any citizen who is arrested, and we call on the Iraqi Forces Alliance to present evidence for its claims,” the statement reads.
The Salvation and Development Front led by Usama al-Nujaifi issued a statement saying that there are many cases of enforced disappearance that have been proven to the Iraqi authorities and the United Nations.
“We do not believe that any fair person can accuse citizens of an entire region of terrorism; that is beyond reason,” the statement reads.
The Arab Parliament held its fourth session on Saturday, in which it adopted a bill condemning the "systematic campaign" that includes "false accusations" by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International regarding the human rights situation in some Arab countries.
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