A/HRC/38/44/Add.1
28.
UNAMI and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights (OHCHR) further reported the drowning of eight civilians put in an iron cage and
lowered into a swimming pool at the Jawsaq military base in the Dawasah area of central
Mosul in September 2016 for collaborating with ISF and affiliated forces; the public
shooting in September 2016 of a 72-year-old man after he told his neighbours that he had
dreamed that all black flags (ISIL flags) in Mosul had fallen; and the public beheading of a
58-year-old-man by his son, an ISIL member, in the Dawasah area of central Mosul, in
October 2016, for insulting its leader.17
B.
Government and affiliated forces
29.
In the fight against ISIL, ISF received support from a number of affiliated forces, in
particular those united under the popular mobilization forces (PMF), sometimes referred to
as popular mobilization units. PMF was formed in 2014 after the most senior Shia cleric in
Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, issued an edict calling on all able-bodied men to
protect the homeland against ISIL. Thousands of Iraqi men joined PMF, both individually
and as part of pre-existing armed groups that were deployed to fight against ISIL by their
commanders. Together with ISF, they played an important role in the military defeat of
ISIL. Government officials indicated to the Special Rapporteur that PMF is fully integrated
with State forces and responds to a single chain of command. However, there is a
widespread perception that PMF fighters keep an allegiance to their commanders rather
than to the Iraqi State.18 In the future, the vast majority of PMF fighters are to be integrated
into the regular Iraqi armed forces.
30.
The Government indicated that it has issued clear instructions to all members of ISF
and affiliated forces to protect civilians and public and private property. Grand Ayatollah
al-Sistani similarly issued a fatwa in 2015 on “Advice and guidance to the fighters on the
battlefields”. However, the Special Rapporteur received information on a number of
violations of international humanitarian and human rights law committed by ISF and
affiliated forces between 2014 and 2017 up to the end of the battle for Mosul. These mostly
concerned reported acts of revenge in the form of interceptions, enforced disappearances
and killings of civilians of the Sunni faith, including internally displaced persons, detainees
and children, as well as executions of suspected ISIL fighters hors de combat.
31.
Between 9 and 16 June 2014, Iraqi forces reportedly summarily executed 119 Sunni
detainees at the Anti-Terrorism (Police) Offices in the cities of Mosul, Tel Afar and
Baquba.19 On 22 August 2014, 44 residents of Bani Wais village belonging to a Sunni tribe
were killed at their mosque by armed men, some of whom reportedly wore police uniforms
and uniforms of a pro-Government group.20 On 26 September 2015, between 56 to 70 men
belonging to a Sunni tribe from the village of Muqdadiya, Diyala province, were taken by
members of ISF and affiliated forces and shortly after found shot dead.
32.
On 3 June 2016, members of PMF intercepted thousands of internally displaced
persons fleeing an area in the north of Fallujah and separated around 1,300 men and boys
from the Al Mahamda tribe.21 Over a period of several days, they were transferred by buses
to unknown locations. Six hundred and five were found to have been transferred to the
custody of local officials. An investigative committee set up by local authorities later
confirmed 49 dead and 643 remain missing to date. On 17 July 2017, 17 male corpses
showing signs of gunshot wounds were discovered in a building west of the old city of
17
18
19
20
21
8
UNAMI/OHCHR, “Human Rights in Iraq: July–December 2016”, p. 8.
The Government provided a divergent analysis (A/HRC/38/44/Add.4, sect. 1).
UNAMI/OHCHR, “Human Rights in Iraq: January–June 2014”, pp. 4-5; and
www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2014/06/iraq-testimonies-point-dozens-revenge-killings-sunnidetainees/.
UNAMI/OHCHR, “Protection of civilians in the armed conflict in Iraq: 6 July–10 September 2014”,
p. 20.
UNAMI/OHCHR, “Protection of Civilians in the Armed Conflict in Iraq: 1 November 2015–30
September 2016”, p. 19.
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