Iraq: Harsh Tactics in Advance of Holy Month

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

(Baghdad) – Iraqi security forces have been surrounding and closing off majority Sunni neighborhoods, effectively shutting residents inside, raiding homes, and carrying out mass arrests in advance of the Muslim holy month of Muharram, Human Rights Watch said today. The Iraqi government should take measures to prevent the escalation of sectarian attacks on Shia during the holy month without resorting to repressive measures such as indiscriminate arrests.

In recent years, Sunni extremist groups affiliated with al-Qaeda in Iraq have claimed responsibility for attacks that killed hundreds of Shias during Muharram, particularly during processions to Karbala and to Baghdad’s Kadhimiyya neighborhood on the holy day of Ashura to commemorate the death of Imam Hussein, Shia Islam’s holiest martyr. On Ashura, which this year fell on November 14, a suicide attacker and twinbomb blas ttargeted Shia pilgrims in al-Saadiyah, north of Baghdad, and Hafriyah, south of Baghdad, killing at least 41 people and wounding more than 100.

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