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Iraq's Association of Muslim Scholars: Anbar is witnessing systematic demographic change

July 1, 2015 at 1:22 pm

The Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq denounced what it described as “crimes and flagrant human rights violations” committed in the city of An-Nukhayb in the Anbar province, adding that the area is being emptied of its indigenous people as part of a systematic policy of demographic change carried out by the Popular Mobilisation Forces with the support of the government.

In a statement released yesterday, the association quoted eyewitnesses from the area as saying that on Monday “members of the Popular Mobilisation Forces started to burn dozens of safe homes and houses inhabited by the people of the area. They also attacked the inhabitants by beating them and yelling obscene and sectarian insults at them.”

The association noted that these violations cannot be considered individual or isolated incidents because they are executed with remarkable coordination, from the incumbent government to the field commanders receiving orders.

The statement pointed out that the violations committed in An-Nukhayb are similar to those committed in the provinces of Diyala and Salahuddin and the areas around Baghdad.