In a ceremony
Iraqi Ministry of Health hands over the remains of 172 Anfal victims
BAGHDAD, January 13 — The Iraqi Ministry of Health conducted on Saturday, a ceremony to hand over the remains of 172 victims of the Anfal campaign to a committee from the Kurdistan Region after completing forensic examinations. The ceremony took place in the presence of representatives from the Presidency and the Martyrs Foundation.
Anfal was a series of campaigns by the regime of Saddam Hussein in the late 1980s in the Kurdish countryside whereby 182,000 people where exterminated as reported by Human Rights Watch.
Statement:
Under the supervision of the Minister, the Federal Ministry of Health conducted a ceremony on Saturday to hand over the remains of 172 martyrs from the victims of the Anfal campaign to a committee from the Kurdistan Region after completing forensic examinations.
Under the supervision of the Minister of Health, Dr. Saleh Mehdi Al-Hasnawi, the Federal Ministry of Health conducted a ceremony on Saturday, January 13, 2024, to hand over the remains of 172 martyrs from the victims of the Anfal campaign to a committee from the Kurdistan Region after completing forensic examinations.
The handover ceremony was attended by the First Lady, Shanaaz Ibrahim, and the head of the Parliamentary Health and Environment Committee, Dr. Majid Shankali, along with several officials from the Presidency, Martyrs Foundation, Ministry of Health, and the Kurdistan Region, as well as the families of the martyrs.
The minister stated that ‘the forensic department completed DNA tests for about 172 remains of Anfal martyrs found in a mass grave in the Sheikhia area in the outskirts of Samawa, Muthanna governorate. The majority of them are infants and women.’
The minister explained that ‘the remains were handed over to a committee from the Kurdistan Region and the families of the martyrs to complete the burial procedures in Kurdistan. After that, the Ministry of Health will initiate the second phase to conduct identity confirmation tests for the families of the martyrs.’
The minister further conveyed that ‘the forensic department continues its work to complete identity confirmation tests for all remains and for all mass graves that have been opened, bodies exhumed, and handed over to the Ministry of Health.’