Iraqi army officer interrogated for fatal torture of Mosul imam
Iraqi army forces in Tal Afar.
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) The Iraqi army command in Nineveh province is interrogating an officer for torturing a mosque’s imam in the city of Mosul to death, a senior commander was quoted saying.
BasNews quoted Maj. Gen. Najm al-Jubouri, Nineveh Operations commander, saying Tuesday that an officer from the 20th division tortured to death an imam from Mosul’s al-Islah al-Zeraee “in a way that violated the military code and human rights”.
According to Jubouri, “the officer has been remanded into custody preparing for his referral to a military trial after pleadings from the deceased’s relatives”.
He did not mention the reason of the officer’s conduct, but Abu Bakr Kanaan, head of the Sunni Endowment Diwan in Nineveh, told Anadolu Agency on Monday that the imam declared through the mosque’s loudspeakers traffic instructions dictated by a security force assigned to a neighboring district, which presumably enraged the officer and prompted him to arrest and brutally beat the preacher to death.
Since it launched an offensive to retake areas occupied by Islamic State militants since 2014, Iraqi forces, especially the Shia Popular Mobilization Forces, faced accusations from local and international rights groups that they committed human rights violations against civilians of the opposite religious sects at areas recaptured from the militants, especially in Nineveh.
The government has repeatedly rebuffed the accusations and reiterated it ensures to investigate any breaches.
Iraqi forces recaptured Mosul from IS militants last July. The government declared final victory over the group last December.