By Max Bartels
Impunity Watch Reporter, The Middle East
Baghdad, Iraq
The predominantly Shia government of Iraq has been accused of giving Shia militant groups impunity to terrorize the Sunni population in response to the attacks by the predominately Sunni forces of ISIS. The government of Iraq has responded that it fairly governs all its citizens, Shia’s and Sunni alike. The Iraqi government has been unable to halt the advance of ISIS as it rolls across Northern Iraq, Amnesty groups have said that it is now mostly Shia militant groups that have been in combat with ISIS forces.
The Shia militia groups are estimated to a combine to be in the tens of thousands. After ISIS seized the Northern Iraqi city of Mosul, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called for volunteers to reinforce the military, who had suffered several defeats to ISIS forces. The Shia militias answered the call; they have military equipment and operate with impunity across Iraq but do not formally answer to the Iraqi government and are not prosecuted for crimes they commit.
The Shia militias have ben accused of abducting hundreds of Sunni civilians in response to terror attacks by ISIS targeting Shia civilians. There have been stories reported to Amnesty International, telling how even after their families have paid the ransom demanded by the militias the abductees were still killed by the militias. Ransoms have been reported to be as high as $80,000 for Sunni’s that are abducted, in most cases the average Iraqi can’t afford to pay such a high ransom.
Sunni insurgents, mainly ISIS fighters and operatives have targeted Shia neighborhoods in Baghdad and across Iraq with car bombs and other attacks. The Shia militias respond with kidnappings and killings and the cycle continues. The Iraqi government is powerless to combat either group. ISIS has already proven to be too much to handle for the Iraq military, capturing large swaths of Iraqi territory. On the other hand, the government needs the Shia militias for their own protection, they don’t have the power to fight ISIS on their own and rely on the numbers that the militias can bring to combat ISIS. The Iraqi military has had difficulty recruiting soldiers to fight ISIS, the Shia militias are much better at recruiting members to fight ISIS and is one of the main reasons why the militias have taken large responsibilities in the defense of Iraqi territory.
For more information, please see:
BBC News — Iraq: Shia Militias “Killing Sunnis in Reprisal Attacks” — 14 October 2014
ABC News — Rights Groups: Iraq Shiite Militants Killing Sunnis — 14 October 2014
