Shafaq News- Al-Muthanna
Authorities in Iraq’s Al-Muthanna province have called for transformingSalman Castle Prison into a heritage site documenting abuses committed underSaddam Hussein’s former Baath regime against thousands of detainees, includingKurds and families of political opponents.
Nuqrat Al-Salman District Head Takleef Al-Ziyadi told Shafaq News onSunday that the prison held large numbers of Feyli Kurds, people detainedduring the Anfal campaign, and residents of Al-Sulaymaniyah and Halabja.
Detainees, including children, women, and the elderly, endured tortureat the prison, while many were relatives of Kurdish fighters who opposed theformer regime. “Some were executed, and others were buried alive in massgraves,” Al-Ziyadi noted, adding that survivors still return to the site eachyear to commemorate their imprisonment.
He further disclosed that a representative from the Ministry of Culturerecently visited the district to complete procedures for converting the prisoninto a memorial documenting those abuses.
Hoping that the site would attract visits from schools and universitiesin the Kurdistan Region and across Iraq, Al-Ziyadi urged the federalgovernment, Al-Muthanna Provincial Council, and the Kurdistan RegionalGovernment (KRG) to help fund its rehabilitation.
Last month, Baghdad’s Rusafa Criminal Court sentenced former prisonofficial Ajaj Ahmed Hardan Al-Tikriti to death for crimes committed againstAnfal detainees at Nuqrat Al-Salman, including torture, murder, and rape. Theruling was welcomed by Kurdish political parties, genocide researchers, andvictims’ families as a significant step toward accountability.
: Commemorating Nugrat Al-Salman horrors: 44 years since the plight of over a million Feyli Kurds