Shafaq News- Al-Samawah

Al-Muthanna Antiquities and Heritage Inspectorate on Friday proposed establishing a memorial and museum in the provincial capital to preserve the memory of missing Iraqis by displaying their photographs, belongings, and documents and telling their stories to future generations.

Inspector Salwan Adnan al-Ahmar told Shafaq News that addressing the issue of missing people is a humanitarian and national responsibility. He stressed the importance of preserving their memory and pursuing justice, saying the proposed memorial and museum would help commemorate them and preserve their stories as part of Iraq’s national memory.

According to al-Ahmar, the initiative would document the stories of Iraqis who went missing or were forcibly disappeared during different periods, including those who went missing under the former regime and victims of events following 2003. The documented cases would include victims of the Speicher massacre from Al-Muthanna province, as well as Kurds, Faili Kurds, and members of Iraq’s various religious, sectarian, and ethnic communities.

"The proposed memorial and museum would document the crimes and abuses committed against those who went missing and preserve their memory for future generations."It would also help protect families’ right to know the fate of their loved ones and ensure their cases are not forgotten over time.

Al-Samawah desert, which stretches across Al-Muthanna province in southern Iraq, was the site of mass killings and mass graves containing the remains of thousands of Kurdish citizens, particularly Feyli Kurds, as well as Kurds from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) who were victims of the Anfal operations and others who opposed the former regime.

Feyli Kurds were also subjected to forced displacement, stripped of their Iraqi citizenship, and had their money and property confiscated during the 1980s. Thousands of young men and families were taken to desert detention facilities, including the notorious Nugra Salman prison in the Samawah desert, where many were killed and buried in mass graves. Government authorities and human rights organizations uncovered several of those graves after 2003.

Read more:12 years after Camp Speicher massacre and hundreds remain unidentified