UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...

President Saddam Hussein, there have been rumours about Kawliyah being recruited by
insurgency groups and their involvement in kidnappings. 480 Given the general population’s
contempt for the Kawliyah and the infiltration of Iraq’s police by Shi’ite militias, they
cannot expect any protection by the Iraqi authorities. 481
C. Actual or Perceived Supporters of the Former Regime and/or the
Insurgency
1. Sunni Arabs
Before the US-led invasion in Iraq, successive Iraqi governments were largely dominated
by Sunni Arabs, who held key positions in the army, and the security and intelligence
agencies. Despite the fact that under Saddam Hussein, the authorities also arrested, tortured
and executed Sunni Arabs considered opponents of the regime, Shi’ites today accuse
Sunnis at large of having supported the former regime. 482 Given the loss of privileges after
the fall of the former regime, Sunni Arabs are suspected of supporting or sympathizing with
the Sunni-led insurgency, which has targeted Shi’ites in deadly attacks, and are denounced
as “terrorists”, “takfiris”, “salafis” and “Wahabis”. 483
As highlighted elsewhere in this report, Shi’ite death squads and certain elements of the ISF
have carried out violent reprisals against the Sunni Arab community, including abduction,
torture and extra-judicial killings. 484 Even though the Government of Prime Minister Al-
Maliki has vowed to foster national reconciliation, including by granting an amnesty to
“(T)he Roma came under attack soon after the fall of the regime in both Sunni and Shi’a areas – in fact, violence
against Roma settlements were among the first recorded post-invasion sectarian incidents, but only few Coalition
officials paid attention because they are such a small community in Iraq. Many Iraqis consider that the Ba’thi regime
favored the Roma, but people interviewed then said that plain prejudice is in fact a driving factor in the violence
against them, notably the belief that the Roma community lives off prostitution and alcohol trading”.
See: Al-Khalidi and Tanner, p. 24, see above footnote 161.
480
See also “Actual or Perceived Supporters of the Former Regime and/or the Insurgency”.
481
The Boston Globe reported that Iraqi soldiers and police in Kirkuk were accused of beating several
“gypsy” women prostitutes and burning their tents in December 2005; see Thanassis Cambanis, For returning
unit in Iraq, a battle with doubts, The Boston Globe, 8 January 2006, http://www.boston.com/news/world/
middleeast/articles/2006/01/08/for_returning_unit_in_iraq_a_battle_with_doubts/?page=1.
482
See also “Members and Associates of the Ba’ath Party and the Former Regime”.
483
The terms tafkiri, Salafi and Wahabi are used to denounce Sunni extremists. Takfir is the practice of
denouncing an individual (or a group) as not being a true follower of Islam, but rather of being a “kafir, an
infidel. The takfiri ideology urges Sunni Muslims to kill anyone they consider an infidel. This ideology is
followed by the Al-Qa’eda in Iraq and Ansar Al-Sunna, among others, which have declared war on the Shi’a
population they consider to be “kuffar”. Salafism is a movement within Sunni Islam that seeks to revive
a practice of Islam that more closely resembles the pure form of Islam prevaling during the time of Prophet
Mohammed. Wahabism is a particular orientation within Salafism and is the dominant form of Islam in Saudi-
Arabia and Qatar; see, for example, HRW, Nowhere to Flee – The Perilous Situation of Palestinians in Iraq,
September 2006, p. 28, http://hrw.org/reports/2006/iraq0706/index.htm; USIP, Who Are The Insurgents?
Sunni Arab Rebels in Iraq, Special Report, April 2005, p. 12, http://www.usip.org/pubs/specialreports/
sr134.pdf.
484
See “Sunni Arabs”. See also “Iraqi Security Forces and Shi’ite militias” and “Shi’ites and Sunnis
Civilians”.
96