Iraq military challenges HRW’s credibility for ‘sanctifying despicable sectarianism’

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Official media for the Iraqi Security Forces slammed a recent report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) that alleged forced disappearances by Shiite units on the grounds that it lacked credibility and stoked the fires of sectarianism, vowing to take legal means against the NGO.

“The Human Rights Watch organization, again, releases reports which are neither professional, nor contain authenticity whatsoever,” reads a statement from the Security Media Center late on Thursday.

HRW had reported on Thursday morning: “Iraqi military and security forces have disappeared dozens of mostly Sunni Arab males since 2014…” 

The Iraqi statement rejected the term “Sunni Arabs” on the grounds of identity politics calling it “sanctifying despicable sectarianism.” It claimed HRW depended on one side without contacting relevant authorities. 

HRW had stated: “The enforced disappearances documented were carried out by a range of military and security entities, but the highest number, 36, were by groups within the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), units under the prime minister's command, at checkpoints across Iraq. Witnesses said at least 28 of these were carried out by the Hezbollah Brigades.” The predominately Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi falls within the PMF.

HRW stated in its report that it contacted four ministries in Baghdad and in Erbil. The Kurdistan Regional Government responded to HRW and provided available statistics ahead of the report’s release.

According to the Iraqi response, all security forces in their different branches prioritize “human rights standards in dealing with the detained,” and they only detain individuals upon an arrest warrant issued by the court.

“The organization should condemn the terrorist gangs that sowed corruption and claimed the lives of many innocents in Iraq,” read the Iraqi response.

It refuted a claim in the 78-page report that security forces have detained children under age 9. 

“What are those unfair and false allegations? The security forces will reserve the right of responding through legal means against these false allegations,” it stated.

The media center is urging the US-headquartered non-governmental organization to work in “an impartial manner” to preserve its credibility and name.

Iraq has detained thousands of its citizens, alleging they might be ISIS fighters, and has handed swift death sentences to those deemed to be ISIS fighters and some members.

In the long lasting Iraqi internal civil war between Shiites and Sunnis, people — even for being named Ali, Omer, Hussein, etc. — have been killed at unofficial checkpoints manned by sectarian militias.

HRW had cited a report by the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) that following decades of conflict “estimates run from a 250,000 to one million people missing” in Iraq.