The Iraqi Council of Representatives today commemorated the 24th anniversary of the bombing of Halabja city with chemical weapons, which took place on March 16, 1988.
The commemoration ceremony included the distribution of books about the events of the bombing, as well as speeches presented by Deputy Speaker Arif Tayfur, representative of President Jalal Talabani and Minister of Water Resources Sabbaq Latif Rashid, and chairman of the martyrs and prisoners committee in the Council of Representatives Mohammed al-Hindawi.

Deputy Speaker of the Council of Representatives Tayfur said in a speech: "Today we remember with deep sadness the crime of Halabja that shook the conscience of the world and will remain through the ages a black mark on the former regime which killed Iraqis without discrimination and targeted the sons of the Kurdish people in particular.

"The Kurdish people hoped the execution of Ali Hassan al-Majid in Halabja city as he ordered the shelling of the city with chemical weapons and led to the death of 5000 people."

Majid was named "Chemical Ali" because of his involvement in using poison gas in Halabja.

He was sentenced to death in June 2007 after being convicted of involvement in a military campaign against the Kurds, called the Anfal campaign, which lasted from February to August 1988.

"We remember this heinous crime at a time when there is still regional and international silence about it," added Tayfur.

He offered condolences to the "families of victims of the martyrs of Halabja, Anfal, Barzanis and Feylis and all the martyrs of Iraq".

Another death sentence was issued against Chemical Ali on December 2008 after being convicted of the suppression of Shiite demonstrations after the 1991 Gulf War. A further ruling was issued on March 2009 after Chemical Ali was convicted of the killing and displacement of Shiites in 1999.

The representative of President Jalal Talabani and former Minister of Water Resources Latif Rashid said "The crime of bombing Halabja is a painful condition in the cases of genocide and mass murder that was practiced by the dictatorship regime and revealed about the fascist nature of the former regime.

"What the Kurdish people offered was a high price of pure life and pure blood, which made a new, democratic, federal and pluralistic Iraq to end the injustice and tyranny.

"The legislative and executive powers are helping the families of the victims of Halabja and the rest of the victims through compensation and work at the international level in order to mark the anniversary of the bombing of Halabja as the World Day against genocide.

"There's a comprehensive campaign in Europe led by Kurdish activists and politicians to adopt making Halabja day the world day against genocide."

The chairman of the martyrs and prisoners committee Mohammed al-Hindawi said: "Halabja is today a symbol of pain and sacrifice where more than 5,000 people died in a crime against humanity headed by the former regime of Saddam Hussein and his party.

"The blood of Halabja, Barzan, Anfal and terrible prisons and the sacrifices of the martyrs were the reason for bringing down the dictator. Those who thought of staying in power were mistaken because the bloodshed is the cause of the fall of thrones."

"The crime of Halabja did not take its right to be a global and national issue through the enactment of a law that gives justice to its people and compensate them for the tragedy they passed through," Hindawi added.

He urged the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government to work to compensate the families of the Halabja victims.

In a related development, MP from Kurdish Blocs Coalition Farhad Atrushi said: "Determining a day that gives the victims their rights in the genocides in Halabja, Anfal, Barzani and Feyli will guarantee [that the brutal Halabja crime is not repeated] at the level of Iraq and the regional and international level."

Atrushi demanded that the legislative and executive authorities in Baghdad and Erbil do everything in their power to make the anniversary of Halabja bombing an international day against genocide. He also called on officials to inform the world about the crime committed against both the Iraqi and Kurdish people.

Halabja is 81km south east of the province of Sulaimaniya. One March 16, 1988 in the Iraq-Iran war the town was subjected to chemical weapons bombing by Iraqi army aircraft.

According to unofficial estimates, the chemical gas killed some 5,000 people, while around 10,000 were injured. Thousands more died of complications, diseases and birth defects in the years after the attack.






AKnews