UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...

security, of transferring hundreds of detainees 451 from Kirkuk and Mosul to the KRGadministered
areas “without authority of local courts or the knowledge of Ministries of
Interior or Defense in Baghdad”. According to this source, the abductions had “greatly
exacerbated tensions along purely ethnic lines.”
While Kurdish authorities deny the unlawfulness of the transfers, 452 and US sources also
say that the practice was stopped after their intervention, UNAMI HRO repeatedly
expressed concern over the ongoing practice. In early 2007, it said
Furthermore:
“(T)hey [religious minorities] face increasing threats, intimidations and detentions, often in
KRG facilities run by Kurdish intelligence and security forces. This has particular
implications for the overall stability of the city, especially in the course of 2007.”
“In many cases the arrest and detention of people is carried out by Kurdish militias.
Detainees are often transferred directly to the Kurdistan Region without notifying the
governorate or the police. Officials in Kirkuk are aware of such practices, yet no significant
effort has been made to stop then.” 453
Arbitrary arrests and incommunicado detentions also take place in other areas under the
control of the Kurdish parties and militias. 454 Non-Kurds, with the support of the Shi’ite
Mehdi Army, which has gained support among Shi’ite Arabs and Shi’ite Turkmen, have
responded with attacks against Kurds and their political representatives. 455
451 The revelations in the Washington Post article were confirmed by reporting from Reuters, citing Arab
community leaders in Kirkuk. Ahmed Al-Obeidi, head of a small Arab political party, said that the arrests had
begun after the US occupation, but accelerated after the 30 January election in which the KDP and the PUK
won control of the Kirkuk Provincial Council. Al-Obeidi estimated the total number of detainees at 250, of
whom 40 had so far been released. See: Patrick Martin, State Department cable details ethnic cleansing by
US-backed forces in Iraq, 16 June 2005, http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/jun2005/kirk-j16.shtml. The
Washington Post cited other estimates of the number of extrajudicial transfers as 600 or more. US military
officials said they had logged 180 cases. US military officials in Kirkuk acknowledged that many prisoners
had been detained there and removed to Sulaymaniyah and Erbil. They claimed that this was necessary
because of overcrowding in Kirkuk’s jails, although they admitted there had been no judicial authorization for
the transfers. Al-Ahram Weekly published the stories of some of the detainees that were released and who
speak of arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detentions and use of torture and unlawful confiscation of property;
see: Al-Ahram Weekly Online, An Iraqi powderkeg, Issue No. 750, 7-13 July 2005, http://weekly.ahram.
org.eg/2005/750/re5.htm.
452 See Kurdistan Observer, Respect for Human Rights in Iraqi Kurdistan, 23 June 2005,
http://home.cogeco.ca/~kobserver/23-6-05-krg-respond-to-washington-post.htm; AP, Kurdish President
Disputes Report of Arab, Turkomen Abuse, 20 June 2005, http://home.cogeco.ca/~kobserver/20-6-05-barzanidispute-wshington-post-claims.htm.
453 UNAMI HRO, December 2006 Human Rights Report, p. 3-4 and 24, see above footnote 10.
454 The USDOS reported that “Kurdish security forces committed abuses against non-Kurdish minorities in
the North, including Christians, Shabak, Turcomen, and Arabs. Abuse ranged from threats and intimidation
to detention in undisclosed locations without due process”; see: USDOS, 2005 Country Reports on Human
Rights Practices – Iraq, see above footnote 333. See also: Cordesman, see above footnote 443; Al-Qaddo, see
above footnote 209.
455 Cagaptay and Fink, see above footnote 44.
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