UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...
UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...
UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...
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checkpoint in Yousifiya area. He was released later upon the request of the MNF who<br />
found that there were no charges against him. He was reportedly badly beaten while in<br />
detention. Reportedly, his family was extorted for US $6,000 by the ISF to secure his<br />
release. Even after his release, the ISF reportedly threatened the family to re-arrest him<br />
in order to obtain the money. On 25 February 2007, the family reportedly paid US<br />
$3,500 to an official of the Ministry of Interior and members of the Mehdi Army. In an<br />
unrelated incident, another Palestinian man, from Yousifiya was reportedly detained by<br />
the ISF.<br />
• 31 January 2007: Two Palestinian males, a man and his nephew, were kidnapped from<br />
Al-Doura / Al-Mahdiya District. They were released the same day after claiming they<br />
had been beaten by Sunni insurgents. In a separate incident, a Palestinian youth was<br />
kidnapped along with an Iraqi Sunni friend. A local Shi’a cleric intervened and was able<br />
to free the Palestinian youth, but only after he was forced to watch the execution of his<br />
friend.<br />
• 30 January 2007: A Palestinian woman and two Palestinian men from Al-Doura were<br />
attacked by four armed gunmen in a vehicle. The three reportedly survived the attack<br />
and were taken to hospital.<br />
• 25 January 2007: Two Palestinian brothers from Al-Mansouriya were reportedly killed<br />
by militia.<br />
• 24 January 2007: Seventy-three Palestinians reportedly fled to Al-Walid on the Iraqi-<br />
Syria border, many of whom had just been released from detention the previous day.<br />
• 23 January 2007: Seventeen Palestinians were rounded up at approximately 5:00 am by<br />
ISF in Hay Al-Nidhal neighbourhood in Baghdad. Reportedly, the ISF broke down the<br />
doors and windows of the homes in order to gain entrance, taking away the males and<br />
leaving the women and children behind. There were reports that some of the women<br />
were beaten during this process. Additional reports claim that the building was attacked<br />
by gunfire the previous afternoon from unknown gunmen and that the previous night,<br />
four persons in civilian dress and driving an unmarked vehicle, presumed by residents to<br />
be militia, came to the building to request that the residents sign a document which<br />
stated that they would not attack ISF or MNF and that they would not support terrorism.<br />
The 17 men were released later in the day and there were allegations that they had been<br />
severely beaten in detention. There were reports that another 13 men were briefly<br />
detained later that day in Hay Al-Amin area near Baladiyat, but reports were unclear as<br />
to whether they were militia or ISF (one source suggested they were militia with group<br />
members dressed as police).<br />
• 19 January 2007: A Palestinian woman and her two sons were killed by Sunni militia in<br />
Hay Al-Adel. In a separate incident, there was a report of a Shi’ite militia attack in<br />
Baghdad Al-Jadida. Residents of Baghdad Al-Jadida received verbal death threats to<br />
evacuate the compound and leave Iraq.<br />
• 18 January 2007: The body of a Palestinian man was found in Al-Bataween. In<br />
a separate incident, a Palestinian was kidnapped by armed persons and released on<br />
23 January after his family paid a ransom of US $10,000.<br />
• 14 January 2007: One Palestinian man was killed and another injured in a militia attack<br />
on the Palestinian compound in Baghdad Al-Jadida. When the family tried to retrieve<br />
victim’s body from the Ibn Al-Nafis Hospital after paying a ransom of US $500, the<br />
militia attacked and killed an Iraqi family they mistook for the Palestinians. The<br />
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