Halabja Victims Threaten to Take Maliki to Court
Twenty-four years ago, Saddam Hussein bombarded the city of Halabja with chemical weapons. According to unofficial data, around 5,000 people were martyred and 1,000 were injured and displaced. There are 715 victims who are still alive; 254 of them are in a constant state of suffering.
"The hospital is my second home," said Kamil Abddulqadir who was seriously affected by the Halabja attack. Medical examinations have shown that only 30 percent of his lungs are functional.
"The minister of health was formerly the minister of martyrs, and he knows about our suffering. But now he never asks about us," said Abdulqadir.
Abdulqadir went to Baghdad three years ago and met with the prime minister. "Maliki held my arm and asked me why I was so thin. I told him that I was hit by chemical weapons and that he had to help us. Maliki said that he would send us abroad for treatment. He later sent a committee to examine us and nothing has happened since," he said.
Rukhosh Hama Amin is another victim from Halabja who has lost hope in the government. She lost six family members in the attack and has undergone four eye surgeries. She frequently visits Iran for treatment. The Iranian doctors told her that they could have treated her with one operation if she had come earlier.
Amin is very angry with the government of Baghdad and said, "I would go to court and take my case there if someone could help and give me directions."
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) started sending groups of chemical weapon victims to Iran for treatment four years ago. But the victims say that the doctors in Iran can only help with the side effects and cannot heal them permanently.
Abdulqadir said an Iranian doctor confessed to him to that he knew 11 Iranian soldiers who were badly hit by chemical weapons and sent to London for treatment.
Luqman Abdulqadir, the head of a group of chemical attack victims, said that Iran has 63,000 victims of chemical weapons who receive medication regularly. "They send their patients to Europe, but our victims are only sent to Iran,” he noted.
“Our case file has been given to the Ministry of Martyrs, whereas it is the work of the Ministry of Health," he said.
Luqman Abdulqadir said that 78 victims have died since 1992. "Every year, around eight survivors lose their lives. Their health extremely deteriorates during the winter and summer."
He added, "A number of the victims need to be sent to European hospitals to be saved from imminent death. But this is not a job for the KRG alone."
"We feel worried and totally hopeless,” Luqman Abdulqadir said. “We hear in the news that Maliki is willing to sign massive weapon deals with Russia, but not willing to bring two European doctors to treat our victims.”
“We cannot wait any longer and we are impelled to take our case to the court to sue the government,” he added. “This government has inherited the legacy of the previous government and is obliged to treat our victims.”
In February 2010, the Iraqi Supreme Criminal Court recognized the bombing of Halabja as an act of genocide. This requires the Iraqi government to compensate the victims.
But the mayor of Halabja, Goran Adham, told Rudaw, "The Iraqi government has not spent a single dinar on the victims."
He added, "After the court decision, it became the duty of the Iraqi government, and not the KRG, to treat the victims of Halabja."
Judge Rizgar Muhammed Amin, who is coordinating the trial of the Baathist leaders, believes that Baghdad should compensate the victims of Halabja and treat their wounds. "It is better if they file a lawsuit against the government, because this current government is liable for the crimes of the previous government."
The list of Halabja victims has been sitting in Maliki's office for two years. "We sent Maliki this list via Bakir Hama Siddiq, an MP from the Kurdistan Alliance, and Ali Bapir," said Muhammad Amin.
He added, "I do not know what happened to the list or what Maliki's response was."
By Nawzad Mahmood- Rudaw
