Discovery of Mass Graves in Iraq.. Geneva International Center Warns Against Burying the Truth Twice

SadaNews - The Geneva International Center for Justice has called on the Iraqi authorities to open a professional independent investigation into the mass graves announced to have been discovered in Anbar province, warning against turning the file into a matter of political propaganda or imposing preconceived narratives before the necessary forensic examinations and DNA analysis are completed.

The center stated, in a statement issued from Geneva yesterday, Sunday, that it is following "with deep concern" calls from community forces, human rights organizations, and the families of victims regarding the discovered graves, expressing its objection to "hasty" statements that attributed the remains to a "specific time period" before conducting the necessary examinations and hearing testimonies from the families of the missing and local residents.

The statement emphasized that every set of remains found belongs to a person with a name, a family, rights, and memories, and that every mass grave is a potential crime scene that must be protected and investigated according to the highest criminal and human rights standards. It viewed the immediate announcement of the identities of the victims or the time of their burial as a "serious violation of the truth" and a disregard for the suffering of the families of thousands of the missing and disappeared.

The Iraqi News Agency reported that the "Martyrs Foundation" announced the commencement of opening seven mass graves in the Akkaz area of the Al-Suqlaweiah district in Anbar province, dating back to the era of the "former regime" in the 1980s.

The center pointed out that Anbar province, especially after 2014, has witnessed serious violations including arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, and extrajudicial killings, particularly in areas that have been subjected to military and security operations involving armed groups and militias linked to or operating under the government’s cover.

It mentioned that hundreds of people disappeared in the Al-Suqlaweiah area around this time in 2015, and that Iraqi official entities and non-governmental organizations documented the disappearance of at least a thousand citizens after they sought refuge in a camp controlled by militias on the outskirts of the city during the fighting against armed groups.

The Geneva International Center for Justice emphasized that the management of mass graves should not yield to political or media whims, but must be conducted according to international standards for protecting crime scenes, preserving evidence, scientific documentation, respecting the dignity of the remains, and ensuring families' participation and regular and transparent communication with them.

The center called for a halt to official and media statements regarding the identities of the victims or the times of their burial until the examination results are released, to immediately protect the grave sites, and to involve the families of the missing, civil society organizations, independent experts, and international observers in all stages of the opening, documentation, and removal of the remains.

It also demanded the formation of an independent investigation committee including experts in forensic medicine, criminal evidence, and human rights, with effective international participation or oversight, in addition to establishing a national database for the missing and forcibly disappeared individuals in Anbar and other provinces, and taking DNA samples from the relatives of the missing to match them with the discovered remains.

The center concluded by affirming that the right of families to know the fate of their loved ones is natural and legal, and that justice should not be selective or subject to political, sectarian, or geographical affiliation, emphasizing that the truth should "not be buried twice: once in mass graves and once in hasty official statements."

Source: Al Jazeera