“As Prime Minister Abadi enjoys victory in Mosul, he is ignoring the flood of evidence of his soldiers committing vicious war crimes in the very city he’s promised to liberate,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch (HRW).
The organization released a report on Wednesday highlighting recent “relentless reports, videos, and photographs of unlawful executions” allegedly committed by Iraqi security forces.
In addition to the recent surge of photos and videos on social media showing the killings and beatings of war-aged Iraqi men, HRW offered testimony from international observers “whose evidence has proven reliable in the past.”
“A shopkeeper in a neighborhood directly west of the Old City that was retaken in April from ISIS took them into an empty building and showed them [on Monday] a row of 17 male corpses barefoot but in civilian dress, surrounded by pools of blood,” HRW reported being told by such observers, saying the bodies appeared blindfolded and bound.
“They said the shopkeeper told them that he had seen the Iraqi Security Forces’ 16th Division, identifiable by their badges and vehicles, in the neighborhood four nights earlier, and that night had heard multiple gunshots coming from the area of the empty building,” it added.
HRW also was told by the observers that they saw soldiers from Iraq’s Counter-Terrorism Services (CTS) in the area, who later sent HRW five photos of the bodies.
Since the declared “liberation” of Mosul on July 10, the Iraqi military has prevented access to west Mosul for most journalists.
“Iraqi forces should allow journalists access to west Mosul to report on the conflict and any alleged abuses,” Human Rights Watch said.
In May, a Kurdish journalist embedded with the CTS , also known as the US-trained Golden Brigade, and Iraq’s Emergency Response Division (ERD) in Mosul, released photos and videos of alleged rape, torture and murder committed by Iraqi forces against people and ISIS suspects.
They were published in a number of western media including Germany’s Der Spiegel and the New York Times.
That prompted Iraq’s interior ministry to open an investigation and Abadi to state he was aware of the reports and "such violations" are being investigated in a precise manner.
“Ministry official Brigadier General Saad Maan ordered the formation of an investigative committee to investigate the veracity of the news report reported by German magazine Der Speigel and the content of information indicating the existence of cases of human rights violations in Nineveh by the rapid reaction forces,” Iraq’s Interior Ministry announced in a statement on May 25.
HRW stated international observers spoke to a senior government official in Mosul on Monday who told them he was comfortable with the execution of suspected ISIS-affiliates “as long as there was no torture.”
“Some Iraqi soldiers seem to have so little fear that they will face any consequence for murdering and torturing suspects in Mosul that they are freely sharing evidence of what look like very cruel exploits in videos and photographs,” Whitson said. “Excusing such celebratory revenge killings will haunt Iraq for generations to come.”
Mosul was declared liberated on July 10 after more than three years under ISIS control.
During a congratulatory phone call regarding the Mosul liberation to Abadi on Wednesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel raised the issue of the allegations.
"The German Chancellor asked PM Abadi to verify allegations of human rights violations in connection with the liberation of Mosul," read a statement from Merkel's office. "It should be ensured that such violations of human rights will not occur in the future."
"The German Chancellor asked PM Abadi to verify allegations of human rights violations in connection with the liberation of Mosul," read a statement from Merkel's office. "It should be ensured that such violations of human rights will not occur in the future."
