IRAQ: PEOPLE CONTINUE NATIONWIDE TO SEARCH FOR RELATIVES AMONG PILES OF REMAINS COLLECTED FROM NEWLY DISCOVERED MASS GRAVES

Record ID: 647948

  • Title: IRAQ: PEOPLE CONTINUE NATIONWIDE TO SEARCH FOR RELATIVES AMONG PILES OF REMAINS COLLECTED FROM NEWLY DISCOVERED MASS GRAVES
  • Date: 24th May 2003
  • Summary: (EU) AL MESAYEB, 5 KILOMETRES SOUTH OF BAGHDAD, IRAQ (MAY 22, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. SLV TRUCK ARRIVING WITH BAGS OF REMAINS FROM JARF AL-SAKHER; MV PEOPLE LIFTING OFF BODIES WRAPPED IN SHEETS/ CARRYING THEM INSIDE; SLV PAN OF BODIES LAID OUT IN ROOM (4 SHOTS) 0.30 2. MV BODIES IN SHEETS/ "WOMAN 490" WRITTEN ON SHEET; SCU FADED IDENTITY CARD; SLV MAN WALKING ALONG LINE OF BODIES, SEARCHING FOR RELATIVE; MV "ADEL MEHADI, (EGYPTIAN)" WRITTEN ON SHEETING; SCU SKULL (7 SHOTS) 1.04 3. MV WOMAN WAILING 1.11 4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) SUAD MOHAMMAD, WHOSE SON WAS TAKEN AWAY IN 1991 "We were sitting at home and Arab Baath party members came and arrested him (my son) and others from (surrounding) houses and streets. God is great, God is greater than Saddam and the Baath parties." 1.27 5. MV PEOPLE EXAMINING BODIES SEARCHING FOR RELATIVES (3 SHOTS) 1.44 6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN, CRYING "Our house was dirty and we had to bring water from the river. My son said, 'Ok I will go'. I said 'I can go'. Then he went with two gallons and where is he now? He's been missing for fourteen years. He didn't do anything, I swear." 1.58 7. MV MAN READING QORAN OVER BODIES (2 SHOTS) 2.07 8. MV ALLOUI JAWAD CARRYING OFF HIS BROTHER/ PUTTING INTO WOODEN COFFIN; MV COFFIN COVERED WITH RUG; MV COFFIN BEING CARRIED OFF TO TRUCK (3 SHOTS) 2.32 9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) ALLOUI JAWAD "They (Baath Party members) took him, accusing him of participating in the 1991 uprising. And all that because of the Americans, because they didn't help the uprising and allowed Saddam to kill all the people, especially the Shia. He was 23 and I recognised him by his clothes." 2.53 10. MV COFFIN ON TRUCK BEFORE DEPARTURE 2.57 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 8th June 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: AL MESAYEB, NEAR BAGHDAD, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA2RZVNJNSJSA5I1IM3RL7J0PSO
  • Story Text: Iraqis across the country are continuing to search for
    relatives among piles of remains collected from newly
    discovered mass graves south of Baghdad.

    Bodies wrapped in sheets arrived in Al-Mesayeb, about
    50 km south of Baghdad on Thursday (May 22, 2003), for
    identification by waiting families.

    The bodies had been found in nearby Jarf Al Sakher.

    People walked along the lines of bodies laid out on the
    ground, searching for faded identity cards of 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.

    "We were sitting at home and Arab Baath party members came
    and arrested him (my son) and others from (surrounding) houses
    and streets", said Suad Mohammad, whose son was taken away in
    1991.

    "God is great, God is greater than Saddam and the Baath
    parties", she continued.

    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.

    "Our house was dirty and we had to bring water from the
    river", another woman wailed. "My son said, 'Ok I will go'. I
    said 'I can go'. Then he went with two gallons and where is he
    now? He's been missing for 14 years. He didn't do anything, I
    swear."
    U.S. soldiers have been overseeing the exhumation of many
    of the mass grave sites but forensic experts fear the crude
    bulldozing methods use 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.

    Alloui Jawad found his brother among the remains in Al
    Mesayeb. He blames the Americans for his death saying they
    abandoned the Shia's in their uprising against Saddam after
    the Gulf war.

    "They (Baath Party members) took him, accusing him of
    participating in the 1991 uprising. And all that because of
    the Americans, because they didn't help the uprising and
    allowed Saddam to kill all the people, especially the Shia. He
    was 23 and I recognised him by his clothes."
    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.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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