Feyli Kurds case trial begins

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The trial of the 16 defendants in the Feyli Kurds case began today, the president of Iraq’s Higher Criminal Court (IHCC) said on Monday. “The session was presided over by Judge Raouf Rasheed,” Judge Aref al-Shahin told IraqiNews.com news agency. Several International organizations estimated that nearly one million Iraqi Feyli Kurds were displaced by force between the years 1970 and 1990. The defendants on this case are Saadoun Shakir, Tareq Aziz, Fadel Sulfeij al-Azzawi, Watban Ibrahim al-Hassan, Sabaawi Ibrahim al-Hassan, Ahmed Hussein, Mazban Khedr Hadi, Ali Hassan al-Majid, Saber al-Dori, Aziz Saleh al-Nawman, Abdelhamid Soliman, Saad Saleh Ahmed Sultan, Muhammad Khudeir al-Halboussi, Fadel Abbas al-Aamiri, Nu’man Ali al-Tikriti and Iyad Taha Shihab. Feyli Kurds are a group of people of Iranian stock living in Baghdad and Diala province, around Khanaqin and Mandili. Feylis speak Feyli, a dialect of the Pahlawani. The roots of the Feylis go back to the Aryan immigrants of the first millennium BC, and more specifically, the Parthian/Pahlawi/Pahlawanid settlements of the 2nd century BD. They embraced Islam in the early stages of the Islamic conquest and colonization of Mesopotamia (Iraq) and Iran, though archeological evidence from the Ilam province in Iran indicates that a significant proportion of Feylis were Nestorian Christians until the 18th Century. When the Safavid dynasty (1507-1721) held sway over Persia, Feyli Kurds switched to the Shiite Jaafari doctrine under Persian influence. In modern times the Feylis have been subject to state persecutions. They are considered as a stateless people, with both Iran and Iraq claiming they are citizens of the other country. In mid-1970s, Iraq expelled around 40,000 Shiite Feyli Kurds who had lived for generations near Baghdad and Khanaqin, alleging that they were Iranian nationals. SS (S) 1