Cabinet decides to turn Halabja from city into governorate
An aerial view of the city of Halabja in northern Iraq. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Iraqi Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, confirmed on Thursday that supporting oppressed and deprived cities is at the heart of the government’s priorities.
“Today we remember one of the most heinous crimes against humanity, which is the tragedy of Halabja committed by the dictatorial regime,” Al-Sudani mentioned via Twitter.
“On this occasion, we confirm that our decision in the Council of Ministers to vote on the draft law turning the sacrificial city of Halabja into a governorate is a moral duty before anything else,” Al-Sudani said.
“We always seek justice for the oppressed cities, and this is one of the core priorities of our government,” Al-Sudani added.
Halabja is a city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, located about 240 kilometers northeast of Baghdad and 14 kilometers from the Iranian border.
A massacre of Kurdish people took place in Halabja on March 16, 1988, during the closing days of the war between Iran and Iraq.
The attack was part of the Iraqi Army’s attempt to repel the Iranian Operation Zafar 7. It took place 48 hours after the capture of the town by the Iranian Army.
A United Nations medical investigation concluded that mustard gas was used in the attack, along with unidentified chemical substances affecting human nerves.
The incident was the largest chemical weapons attack against a civilian-populated area in history, killing between 3,200 and 5,000 people and injuring between 7,000 to 10,000.
Preliminary results from surveys of the affected areas showed an increased rate of cancer and birth defects in the years afterward.
The Halabja attack has been officially recognized by the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal as a genocidal massacre against the Kurdish people in Iraq under Saddam Hussein.
The attack was also condemned as a crime against humanity by the Parliament of Canada.