Leader Barzani slams Saddam's Regime for genocidal campaign against Kurds

Shafaq News/ On Wednesday, Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani condemned the "atrocities" committed against the Kurdish people, including the Anfal campaign against the Barzanis.

In a statement marking the 41st anniversary of the Anfal genocide, Barzani described the actions of the former Iraqi regime as "unjust and illegal," highlighting that "eight thousand Barzani men, ranging in age from nine to ninety, were arrested solely for being Kurdish. They were subjected to a brutal massacre in the deserts of southern Iraq."

Barzani characterized these crimes as "part of a broader systematic campaign by the regime to eradicate the Kurdish people. This campaign began with the abduction and disappearance of twelve thousand young Fayli Kurds, continued through the Anfal campaigns and chemical attacks across Kurdistan, and included Arabization, forced displacement, and demographic manipulation in the region."

The Kurdish leader emphasized that these crimes reflect the "chauvinistic, authoritarian, and inhumane" mindset of the former Iraqi authorities, which he believes is the root cause of the enduring backwardness, suffering, and tragedies faced by the people of Iraq and the broader region.

In 1983, an uprising against Saddam Hussein's regime erupted in the Kurdistan Region, leading to the initiation of the Anfal campaign. Saddam appointed General Ali Hassan al-Majid al-Tikriti, the Baath Party's Secretary of the North, to oversee the campaign. On March 16, 1988, al-Majid ordered chemical attacks on Halabja and surrounding villages, an act that has been recognized as "genocide."

The Anfal campaign specifically targeted the Barzan area, where thousands of individuals were arrested, transported to the deserts of southern Iraq, and executed. Their bodies were subsequently buried in mass graves.

On May 3, 2011, the Iraqi High Criminal Court classified the Anfal campaign as a "crime against humanity and genocide."

After the fall of Saddam's regime in 2003, several key figures, including Saddam Hussein and Ali Hassan al-Majid, were tried and convicted for their roles in the Anfal campaign, with some receiving death sentences.