The Iman Foundation
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IMAN Chairman condemns execution of 700 prisoners by ISIS militants in Iraq

Thursday, 4 September 2014

IS jihadists may have executed up to 700 prisoners in Iraq

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Evidence indicates that militants from the Islamic State jihadist group executed more than 500 captives in Iraq earlier this year, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.

Around 1,700 soldiers surrendered to IS in June after its fighters seized second city Mosul and swept south toward Baghdad.

IS subsequently released photographs of dozens of men in civilian clothes apparently being executed by firing squad in desert areas, and said it had killed hundreds in total.

“Information from a survivor and analysis of videos and satellite imagery has confirmed the existence of three more mass execution sites, bringing the total to five, and the number of dead to between 560 and 770 men, all or most of them apparently captured Iraqi army soldiers,” HRW said.

“Another piece of this gruesome puzzle has come into place, with many more executions now confirmed,” said Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at the rights watchdog.

“The barbarity of the Islamic State violates the law and grossly offends the conscience.”

The fate of the soldiers has caused widespread anger among their relatives, who stormed the parliament building in Baghdad on Tuesday, demanding to know their fate and for certain officers to be held accountable.

The hundreds of demonstrators assaulted some MPs as well parliamentary staff, smashed chairs in the cafeteria and started a sit-in the building’s main chamber, an official said.

But the situation was later defused and the demonstrators departed, and parliament speaker Salim al-Juburi met with their representatives at his home, the official said.

Parliament held a lengthy session on the missing soldiers Wednesday, during which the acting defense minister and senior officers were questioned, with relatives of the soldiers in attendance.

Responding to the news, Chairman of the IMAN Foundation, Ribal Al-Assad said:

"I am appalled to hear of this latest atrocity committed by ISIS militants, they have absolutely no regard for humanity and the sanctity of life.

The unparalleled brutality of these people is evident through their actions, wave after wave of slaughter with no end yet in sight.

The international community must unite and act to stop these extremists before the next massacre and put an end to the cancer of Islamist extremism before it is to late; Iraq, the region and the whole world must be rid of these fanatics.

Furthermore all those guilty of these heinous crimes against humanity must be brought to justice.

We cannot allow more lives to be lost at the hands of these animals."

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