2nd int’l conf. on mass graves kicks off in Najaf

NAJAF / IraqiNews.com: The second edition of the international conference on mass graves started on Wednesday in Najaf with the participation of Vice Presidents Adel Abdul Mahdi and Burham Saleh. The Shahid al-Mihrab (Martyr of the Pulpit) Foundation, in cooperation with the new Iraq center for media and studies in Britain, will organize the event. “The conference will tackle a number of issues, including the reopening of mass graves, gathering criminal identification and checking the DNA to identify the victims,” the higher committee of the conference said in a statement received by IraqiNews.com. “The conference will discuss also the victims’ legal rights and means to compensate their families,” it added. Najaf, about 160 km south of Baghdad, has an estimated population of 900,600 in 2008, though this has increased significantly since 2003 due to immigration from abroad. The city is one of the holiest cities of Shiite Islam and the center of Shiite political power in Iraq. Najaf is renowned as the site of the tomb of Ali ibn Abi Taleb (also known as “Imam Ali”), whom Shiites consider to be the righteous caliph and first imam. The city is now a great center of pilgrimage from throughout the Shiite Islamic world. It is estimated that only Mecca and Medina receive more Muslim pilgrims. The Imam Ali Mosque is housed in a grand structure with a gilded dome and many precious objects in its walls. SH (S) 1