BAGHDAD: Hundreds of detainees in Iraq are feared to have been “forcibly disappeared” by Kurdish authorities after they were arrested for suspected ties to the Daesh group, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.
“More than 350 detainees held by the Kurdistan Regional Government in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk are feared to have been forcibly disappeared,” the US-based rights group said in a statement.
Most of those missing are Sunni Arabs detained by the Kurdish Asayish security agency on suspicion of Daesh “affiliation” after Kirkuk was taken from the jihadists in 2014, the statement said.
“Families in Kirkuk are desperate to know what has become of their detained relatives,” said HRW’s deputy Middle East director, Lama Fakih.
“The secret, incommunicado detentions raise grave concerns for their safety.”
HRW said the disappearance of the detainees came to light after Iraqi government forces retook Kirkuk from the Kurds in October following a controversial independence referendum.
“Local officials told Human Rights Watch that the prisoners were no longer in the official and unofficial detention facilities in and around Kirkuk,” the group said.
The fate of the missing people has already sparked protests from anxious relatives and drawn the attention of the authorities in Baghdad.
In November, Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi ordered an investigation after dozens of complaints from Arab families about relatives they say have not been heard from since their arrest by Kurdish forces.
Kirkuk and the surrounding oil-rich region are fiercely disputed between Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdish region.
The Kurds took part of the area after the US-led invasion of 2003 and extended their control in the chaos that followed the lightning Daesh advance across Iraq in 2014.
Federal forces reclaimed Kirkuk and the oil fields around it after Baghdad rejected a vote by the Kurds for independence in September.
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350 prisoners feared ‘disappeared’ by Iraqi Kurd forces, human rights group claims
350 prisoners feared ‘disappeared’ by Iraqi Kurd forces, human rights group claims
Iran says missile attacks to continue, US talks ‘not on agenda’
- Abbas Araghchi: ‘I don’t think talking with the Americans would be on our agenda anymore’
- Top envoy says Tehran had a “very bitter experience” during previous negotiations with the US
TEHRAN: Iran’s foreign minister said Tuesday that talks with the United States were not on the agenda as their war entered its 11th day.
“I don’t think talking with the Americans would be on our agenda anymore,” Abbas Araghchi told PBS News, saying Tehran had a “very bitter experience” during previous negotiations with the US.
On February 28, the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran that killed its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and triggered a war that has spread across the Middle East.
The Israeli and US attacks took place two days before Washington and Tehran were scheduled to hold talks following three prior rounds of negotiations. Omani mediators in those discussions had said there was “significant progress” in the talks.
Iran has responded to the US-Israeli attacks with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel and US interests across the region.
Shipping traffic through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which nearly 20 percent of the world’s crude oil usually transits, has been severely disrupted.
Iranian forces have repeatedly targeted oil tankers passing through the strategic waterway since the war began.
In the interview with PBS News, Araghchi insisted that Iran was acting in “self-defense.”
“We are prepared, we have been prepared to continue attacking them with our missiles as long as needed and as long as it takes,” he said.
Late Monday, Iranian deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi said some countries in the region and elsewhere had reached out to Iran to push for a ceasefire.
“China, Russia and France, and even some countries in the region, are in contact with us,” he told state TV.
“Some of them are willing to do something to stop this war or establish a ceasefire.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said France and its allies are preparing a “defensive” mission to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Gharibabadi said Iran “did not start the aggression and the war … we are defending ourselves.”
“I don’t think talking with the Americans would be on our agenda anymore,” Abbas Araghchi told PBS News, saying Tehran had a “very bitter experience” during previous negotiations with the US.
On February 28, the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran that killed its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and triggered a war that has spread across the Middle East.
The Israeli and US attacks took place two days before Washington and Tehran were scheduled to hold talks following three prior rounds of negotiations. Omani mediators in those discussions had said there was “significant progress” in the talks.
Iran has responded to the US-Israeli attacks with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel and US interests across the region.
Shipping traffic through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which nearly 20 percent of the world’s crude oil usually transits, has been severely disrupted.
Iranian forces have repeatedly targeted oil tankers passing through the strategic waterway since the war began.
In the interview with PBS News, Araghchi insisted that Iran was acting in “self-defense.”
“We are prepared, we have been prepared to continue attacking them with our missiles as long as needed and as long as it takes,” he said.
Late Monday, Iranian deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi said some countries in the region and elsewhere had reached out to Iran to push for a ceasefire.
“China, Russia and France, and even some countries in the region, are in contact with us,” he told state TV.
“Some of them are willing to do something to stop this war or establish a ceasefire.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said France and its allies are preparing a “defensive” mission to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Gharibabadi said Iran “did not start the aggression and the war … we are defending ourselves.”
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