Baghdad: The local government of Nineveh province held a conference on Tuesday to commemorate the martyrs of Al-Khasfa Cemetery and call for justice for their families. The event was attended by Nineveh Governor Abdul Qadir Al-Dakhil, several members of parliament and the provincial council, security leaders, religious figures, tribal sheikhs, and relatives of the missing.
According to Iraqi News Agency, Nineveh Governor Abdul Qadir Al-Dakhil stated that ‘Al-Khasfa Cemetery represents one of the most horrific crimes committed by the terrorist ISIS against the people of the province,’ noting that ‘its victims came from various components of Iraqi society.’ Al-Dakhil emphasized that ‘terrorism has no religion and is defined by extremism,’ adding that the people of Nineveh had suffered extensively from its crimes. He highlighted that ‘Al-Khasfa Cemetery contains victims from the Sunni, Shiite, Christian, and Yazidi communities, as well as security personnel from southern provinces and residents of Mosul.’
He further added that ‘commemorating the Al-Khasfa Cemetery martyrs reaffirms the need to achieve justice and compensate the victims’ families, while ensuring that this crime remains present in the memory of future generations.’ He stressed the importance of promoting moderation and rejecting extremism and sectarianism. Al-Dakhil announced that the local government would submit a proposal to the Nineveh Provincial Council to commemorate the Al-Khasfa Cemetery martyrs. It would also begin a detailed census of the victims in cooperation with the Nineveh Court of Appeal and security authorities, aiming to determine the actual number of victims and work to compensate the families of the martyrs and those affected.
Mohamed Lazim, head of the ‘Muthaberoun’ Foundation, noted that Mosul residents annually commemorate the tragedy of the execution of large numbers of people from the city by ISIS. He recalled that in 2017, the group announced on one occasion that it had executed more than 2,000 people and dumped their bodies into the Al-Khasfa sinkhole south of Mosul. He added that ‘nearly nine years after the liberation of Mosul, without opening Al-Khasfa Cemetery and recovering the victims’ remains, their families have been left with painful questions about the fate of their loved ones.’ He called for the cemetery to be opened through international efforts and for the victims’ data to be documented.
Lazim noted that dozens of other mass graves in Nineveh province have yet to be opened. They contain the remains of victims executed by ISIS for refusing to join the group or because they were members of the security forces and government institutions. Sheikh Ali Osama Jassim, director of the Religious Affairs Department at the Sunni Endowment Office in Nineveh, remarked that assaulting people and violating their rights are among the gravest crimes in Islam, noting that the crimes committed during ISIS control of Mosul and Nineveh ‘are condemned by every decent and sane person.’
He stated that ‘the Al-Khasfa crime was one of the crimes for which the people of the city paid the price, alongside the violations suffered by the Yazidis and other communities in the province.’ He called on official and media institutions to convey the victims’ voices to the world and work to ensure justice for them and compensation for their families.
Um Harith, the mother of one of the missing persons, called for the fate of her son, Harith Abdul Nasser, to be revealed. He went missing in 2017 while attempting to leave the right bank of Mosul during the ISIS control of the city. She said her son, born in 1994, was a secondary school student and that the difficult humanitarian conditions endured by residents of the right bank prompted him to try to reach the left bank before all contact with him was lost and his fate remained unknown.
She added that the family filed reports with the relevant authorities, international organizations, and courts after the liberation of Mosul, but received no information establishing his whereabouts or fate. She called for the fate of all missing persons whose families continue to await the truth to be determined. She stressed the need for missing persons and their families to receive the same rights granted to victims of terrorism, saying the families’ primary demand was to learn the fate of their loved ones and ensure justice for them.