Sunday August 24, 2014 the United Nations confirmed that it obtained evidence supporting the claim that 670 Shia inmates in the Badush prison in Mosul on June 10, 2014 according to the Guardian.
Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights noted that along with these brutal murders, forced conversions, abductions, trafficking, slavery, and sexual abuse has taken place. Pillay continued by stating that ISIS has been systematically targeting women and children based on their sectarian affiliation.
Shortly after taking Mosul, ISIS enters the Badush prison and proceeded to separate the inmates into two groups: Sunni and Shia. The Sunni inmates were questioned by ISIS fighters in order that they may validate their sectarian identity. Afterward Sunni inmates would be released. Shia inmates on the other hand would be loaded into trucks and killed in a “desert-like” location between Mosul’s main road and its railway line according to the Guardian.
The Shia prisoners were lined up and numbered prior to their departure from the prison, and when they arrived to this unspecified location they were lined up in four rows and shot. Navi Pillay, in his strong statement of condemnation noted that these actions may be considered as war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Shia Rights Watch echoes the condemnation levied by the UN High Commissioner. ISIS has been terrorizing Iraq’s Shia community. The systematic murder of Shia civilians is an outrage which sadly has yet to strike the conscience of the international community. Protecting the Shia population of Iraq has not been recognized as an issue of international concern. This particular act of terror against the Shia community is just the latest violent act against Shia communities around the world and if nothing is done about this then Shia all over the world are at greater risk of falling victim to acts of harassment and violence because of their religious affiliation. It is for this reason that the international community needs to coordinate a response to halt the terror of ISIS and provide relief to the Shia community and other affected minority communities as well.
Another massacre of Shia is in progress as militants from the Islamic State have surrounded and laid siege to the town of Amerli for the past two months according to Fox News. Ameril is a town located roughly 110 miles from Baghdad and a small community of Shia Turkmen live here. The Shia in this town, which are considered apostates by ISIS, are trapped without electricity and drinking water. The food supply has been rapidly dwindling as male farmers have largely neglected the crops to fend off the ISIS threat. BBC reported that residents were saying that the food situation has deteriorated to the point where children are only eating once every three days.
This situation is reminiscent of the ISIS threat to the Yazidi community on Mount Sinjar a few weeks ago. The difference between these two situations is that this one has been largely ignored by the international community and there are currently no rescue plans in the works. The Iraqi military has been able to airlift supplies to this community but this town of twenty thousand requires more than airlifts to relieve the suffering they have been undergoing for over 70 days now. Shia Rights Watch calls on the United Nations to work to secure peace in this country and provide relief to affected populations.
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