- Title: IRAQ: IRAQI VOLUNTEERS SEARCH FOR RELATIVES AT MASS GRAVE FOUND OUTSIDE BAGHDAD.
- Date: 25th May 2003
- Summary: (W5)JURF AL-SAKHR, 50 KM SOUTH OF BAGHDAD, IRAQ (MAY 24, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. LV/PAN: U.S. VEHICLES PASSING BY MASS GRAVE SITE 0.13 2. LV: CIVILIAN CARS AT MASS GRAVE SITE 0.19 3. GV: WIDE OF COVERED BODIES SPREAD OUT ON GROUND 0.24 3. GV: TWO VOLUNTEERS CARRYING REMAINS OF TWO CORPSES 0.30 4. CU: SKULL OF MAN KILLED BY BULLET; REMAINS (2 SHOTS) 0.40 7. MV/CU: MAN HOLDING ARTIFICIAL LEG FOUND AMONG REMAINS; SKULL WITH BANDAGE ON EYES (3 SHOTS) 0.57 8. CU: TWO VOLUNTEERS CARRYING CORPSE; MAN TYING CORPSE; MAN LOOKING AT AND READING OUT IDENTITY CARD "ID of Qasim Ursan" 1.06 9. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FADHIL KHADIM, A RELATIVE OF QASIM URSAN, SAYING "After finding the identity card, people were shouting 'who knows Qasim Ursan?' We are his relatives and we saw the card and recognised him." 1.17 10. GV/MV: VOLUNTEERS DIGGING; CHILD LOOKING AT GRAVE SITE; GROUP OF VOLUNTEERS DIGGING (3 SHOTS0 1.32 11. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) PETER BOUSKAERT, SENIOR RESEARCHER, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH, SAYING "Thousands of people from Musayib and now their bodies have been discovered in this mass grave site, and the people of Musayib have found three trenches here from which they have recovered hundreds of bodies already, and just behind the hill a few hundred metres away is a fourth mass grave as found at that side. That is quite a large mass grave." 1.54 12. LV: PEOPLE WALKING TOWARDS MASS GRAVE 2.05 13. GV/PAN/MV/CU: REMAINS OF BODIES WRAPPED; MAN LOOKING AT CORPSE; VOLUNTEERS MARKING CORPSES; CORPSES WRAPPED ON GROUND (5 SHOTS) 2.36 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 9th June 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: JURF AL-SAKHR, 50KM SOUTH OF BAGHDAD, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVA4U8VLPUUIDB33Y7YZ12SDKYFX
- Story Text: Iraqis across the country continue to search for
relatives among piles of remains collected from newly
discovered mass graves south of Baghdad.
Volunteers on Saturday (May 24, 2003) searched through
remains of hundreds of bodies found in Jurf Al-Sakhr, 50 km
south of Baghdad.
As relatives looked on, volunteers examined bones and
debris, searching for faded identity cards or other clues
among the skeletons to try to identify relatives who
disappeared when Saddam's government cracked down on a Shi'ite
uprising in 1991.
"ID of Qasim Ursan," one volunteer shouted out.
"After finding the identity card, people were shouting
'who knows Qasim Ursan?' We are his relatives and we saw the
card and recognised him," said Fadhil Khadim.
Most of the hundreds of bodies found since exhumation
began at the site 10 days ago appear to have come from the
nearby town of Musayib.
Since Saddam's fall in the U.S.-led war on Iraq, mass
graves have been unearthed in Najaf, Basra, Babylon and other
areas and are still being found as Iraqis feel free to recount
tales of arrests, torture and killings once too risky to tell.
U.S. soldiers have been over seeing the exhumation of many
of the mass grave sites, but forensic experts fear the crude
bulldozing methods used could destroy crucial evidence that
could be used in future trials.
In addition, forensics are rarely at the grave sites and
remains are not left for examination, but taken by relatives
after identification for burial.
Human rights organisations have expressed outrage at the
lack of forensic examination and lack of action from the
international community.
"The people of Musayib have found three trenches here from
which they have recovered hundreds of bodies already and, just
behind the hill a few hundred metres away, is a fourth mass
grave as found at that side. That is quite a large mass
grave," said Peter Bouckaert, a senior researcher at Human
Rights Watch.
Many Iraqis blame the Americans for the death of loved
ones saying they abandoned the Shi'ites in their uprising
against Saddam after the Gulf war.
The human rights group Amnesty International has said it
has information about 17,000 disappearances in Iraq over the
past 20 years but that the actual figure may be much higher.
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