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Camp Speicher massacre

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Camp Speicher massacre
Part of the Northern Iraq offensive and Persecution of Shias by the Islamic State
Picture of Camp Speicher in January of 2005, when it was still used as a United States military installation before being transferred to the Iraqi government in 2011.
Camp Speicher is located in Iraq
Camp Speicher
Camp Speicher
Location within Iraq
LocationTikrit, Iraq
Coordinates34°36′36″N 43°40′48″E / 34.61000°N 43.68000°E / 34.61000; 43.68000
Date12 June 2014; 10 years ago (12 June 2014)
TargetCadets of the Iraqi Armed Forces
Attack type
Deaths1,095–1,700[1][2]
VictimsShia Muslims
Perpetrator Islamic State
MotiveAnti-Shia sentiment

On 12 June 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) summarily executed between 1,095 and 1,700[2] Iraqi cadets near Tikrit. The killings took place during ISIL's Northern Iraq offensive, when the cadets were captured outside of Camp Speicher during their attempt to flee from the area.[3][4] At the time of the massacre, there were between 5,000 and 10,000 unarmed cadets in the vicinity of Camp Speicher,[5] and ISIL militants selected the Shia Muslims for execution. As of 2024, it remains the deadliest act of terrorism in Iraq and the second-deadliest single act of terrorism in the world, surpassed only by the September 11 attacks in the United States.[6]

Events

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Alleged dishonesty of the Iraqi government

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Several survivors later testified that their senior officers in the camp had forced them to leave the camp.[5][7] Hassan Khalil, one survivor, who managed to escape by pretending to be dead under another corpse and fleeing at night, said: "Our chief officers are the reason behind the killings. They forced us to leave Speicher. They assured us there was a safe passage, that it was guarded by the tribes, and told us not to wear uniforms." "They sold us to ISIS", he added. The Iraqi government and national television denied that story. They said the cadets forced their way out of the camps after the military had already dispatched special forces to the dangerous camps' area to secure them, and that they had been warned against leaving.[8]

Four hundred cadets ordered to leave Camp Speicher before the attack were arrested by government forces and are missing.[9]

Massacre and ISIL propaganda footage

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Peter Bouckaert, the emergencies director for Human Rights Watch (HRW), stated: "The photos and satellite images from Tikrit provide strong evidence of a horrible war crime that needs further investigation. [ISIS] and other abusive forces should know that the eyes of Iraqis and the world are watching".[10]

The photos show masked ISIL fighters tying up the cadets and loading them up on trucks, with other photographs showing ISIL fighters killing dozens of the cadets with assault rifles while they are lying down.[11] ISIL propaganda videos show them shooting at hundreds of men lined up in mass graves in the desert.[12] Some cadets faked their death, covering themselves with blood and escaping at night.[11] Survivor Ali Hussein Kadhim told his story to The New York Times following his escape from the massacre.[11]

ISIL released footage of the massacre as part of their propaganda video Upon the Prophetic Methodology. The cadets are seen being crammed into trucks, some of them wearing civilian clothes to hide their military uniforms. Most of them are lying on the ground, with their jeans stripped to reveal camouflage uniforms underneath. Some of the prisoners were forced to defame Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, while others were forced to shout "long live the Islamic State". Some of them were beaten to death with a rifle. The killing methods varied, from shooting the cadets one by one to shooting them while lying down many times to ensure death.[citation needed] Some cadets were shot and dumped into the Tigris river.[13]

Aftermath

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25 August 2014, a mother of one of the Camp Speicher massacre victims protests, throws her headscarf at the Iraqi parliament speaker, Salim al-Jabouri.
Memorial for dead of the Camp Speicher massacre at the location of the incident at the presidential palaces in Tikrit

The Iraqi government asserted that 57 members of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party had taken part in the massacre.[14] Although pictures showed that every armed man was from ISIS, the government stated "Without any doubts and suspicion, all of these criminals are from the banned Ba'ath Party."[15] The Minister of Defense, Sa'dun al-Dulaimi, stated that the massacre was not sectarian in nature.[16] Although the spokesman of the Iraqi Armed Forces, Qasim Atta, stated that there were almost 11,000 cadets and soldiers missing from Camp Speicher; he also stated that thousands were executed in or near the presidential palaces, the al-Bu Agail region, and the Badoush prison by sectarian violence.[17]

On the 2nd of September, more than 100 members of the families of the killed and missing cadets and soldiers broke into the Iraqi Parliament and hit three of the security guards.[18] After a day, a session started in the parliament with the attendance of representatives of the families and Sa'dun al-Dulaimi, along with other military officials to discuss the massacre.[19]

On 16 September, the Kurdish Asayish arrested four people suspected to be involved in the massacre in southern Kirkuk.[20] An unnamed security source stated, "The operation was executed by relying on intelligence information to arrest them."[21]

On 18 September, the Iraqi Human Rights ministry stated that as of 17 September, the total number of missing soldiers and cadets was 1,095,[22] denying the most popular figure of 1,700 soldiers having been killed. The ministry added, "The ministry relied in its statistics on spreading forms on the families of the missing people in Baghdad and the other governorate within its quest to document the crimes and violations that the terrorist group of the Islamic State is committing towards our people."[23] The Iraqi government ordered them to pay 10 million Iraqi dinar (equivalent to US$8,600) to the families of the missing cadets.[23]

Fall of ISIL

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Following the Iraqi forces' victory over ISIL in Tikrit in early April 2015, mass graves containing some of the murdered cadets were located and the decomposed corpses began to be exhumed.[24] Two of the alleged perpetrators of the massacre were arrested in Forssa, Finland, in December 2015.[citation needed] The suspects were identified from ISIL propaganda videos in which the executions of 11 men took place.[citation needed] Police did not disclose whether the men had made applications for asylum in Finland.[25] On 13 December 2016, the 24-year-old twins were charged with murder and committing a war crime for allegedly killing unarmed cadets, as well as "aggravated assault with terrorist aims".[26] They were acquitted by the Pirkanmaa District Court in May 2017. After the prosecution appealed the ruling they were again acquitted by the Turku Court of Appeal in February 2020 due to lack of evidence of the brothers involvement in the massacre.[27]

In August 2016, 36 men were executed by hanging for their part in the massacre.[28] On 6 September 2016, three mass graves were found by the Kata’ib al-Imam Ali brigade containing the remains of over 30 people killed in the massacre.[29] In August 2017, 27 people were sentenced to death for their involvement in the massacre, and another 25 men were released due to lack of evidence.[30]

In May 2024, the Iraqi National Intelligence Service arrested three suspects who had fled the country, for their involvement in the massacre.[31]

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References

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  1. ^ "Iraqi court sentences 24 to death over Speicher massacre". Middle East Monitor. Archived from the original on 2 August 2015. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  2. ^ a b "احصائية رسمية: 1997 العدد الكلي لمفقودي مجزرتي سبايكر وبادوش". Rudaw. Archived from the original on 1 November 2014. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  3. ^ "Five year anniversary of Camp Speicher massacre on 12th June | Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da'esh/ISIL (UNITAD)".
  4. ^ "Five years on, still no justice for Iraq's Camp Speicher victims".
  5. ^ a b "Survivors from the Speicher massacre: We were 4000 unarmed soldiers fell into the hands of ISIS". Buratha News Agency (in Arabic). 7 September 2014. Archived from the original on 21 September 2014. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
  6. ^ Nordland, Rod; Rubin, Alissa J. (15 June 2014). "Massacre Claim Shakes Iraq". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 28 March 2022. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  7. ^ "Survivor from COB Speicher reveals details about the massacre". Al Alam (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 15 March 2018. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
  8. ^ "ناجون من مجزرة سبايكر: كنّا (4000) مجنّد أعزل وقعنا في قبضة عصابات داعش". 7 September 2014. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  9. ^ "Camp Speicher massacre five years on: thousands of individuals unaccounted for as families still wait for justice | MENA Rights Group". www.menarights.org. Archived from the original on 18 January 2021. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  10. ^ Saul, Heather (3 September 2014). "Iraqi soldier survives Isis mass execution by lying on floor - and pretending to be dead". The Independent. Archived from the original on 8 September 2020. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  11. ^ a b c Arango, Tim (3 September 2014). "Escaping Death in Northern Iraq". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 20 March 2021. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  12. ^ "ISIS releases footage of Tikrit massacre". Al Arabiya. 12 July 2015.
  13. ^ O'Grady, Siobhán (8 July 2015). "A Massacre So Bloody It Could Be Seen From Space". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 20 May 2022. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  14. ^ "New Secrets are revealed about the Speicher massacre in Iraq". Al Fajr (in Arabic). 10 September 2014. Archived from the original on 13 September 2014. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
  15. ^ "ISIS, Saddam's men or a third party who killed 1700 soldiers in camp Speicher in Iraq?" (in Arabic). CNN Arabic. 10 September 2014. Archived from the original on 16 October 2014. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
  16. ^ "Sa'dun al-Dulaimi says that the ones who committed the massacre weren't sectarians". Sout al-Iraq (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 16 November 2021. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
  17. ^ "Qassim Atta: 11,000 missing men from camp Speicher". Al Baghdadia (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 13 September 2014. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
  18. ^ "The families of the missing people of camp Speicher break into the parliament" (in Arabic). Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
  19. ^ "An emergency parliament session to discuss the Speicher massacre" (in Arabic). Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 4 February 2020. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
  20. ^ "4 suspected in the massacre of Speicher are arrested". Kitabat (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 9 June 2015. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
  21. ^ "Arresting 4 suspected to be involved in the crime of Speicher in southern Kirkuk". Al Sumaria (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 2 May 2019. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
  22. ^ "1095 soldiers still missing since the Speicher massacre by ISIS". CNN Arabic (in Arabic). 18 September 2014. Archived from the original on 20 September 2014. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
  23. ^ a b "Ministry of Human Rights: The number of the missing people of Camp Speicher reached 1095". Al Sumaria (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 16 November 2021. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
  24. ^ Ellis, Ralph (6 April 2015). "New mass graves found in Tikrit". CNN. Archived from the original on 7 April 2015. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  25. ^ "Two detained in Finland over ISIS executions in Tikrit". 10 December 2015. Archived from the original on 16 September 2016. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
  26. ^ "Finland tries twins over IS massacre in Iraq". Yahoo News. Archived from the original on 16 November 2021. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  27. ^ "Iraqi twins cleared of war crimes". 28 February 2020. Archived from the original on 4 September 2021. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  28. ^ "Iraq hangs 36 men for Camp Speicher massacre". BBC News. 21 August 2016. Archived from the original on 16 November 2021. Retrieved 21 August 2016.
  29. ^ "3 mass graves discovered in central Tikrit". Iraqi News. 6 September 2016. Archived from the original on 22 May 2022. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  30. ^ "Iraq to hang 27 for IS Camp Speicher massacre". BBC News. 8 August 2017. Archived from the original on 1 September 2022. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  31. ^ "Iraq arrests three for involvement in Speicher massacre". The New Region.
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