BAMRO

The youngest victim –of belief and opinion- in Iraq

          Wars and different circumstances experienced in Iraq over the past years have produced a lot of painful accidents which cannot be ignored legally, and each of these incidents has a legal impact with clear features that can’t be overlooked.

        This report explores one of the widespread painful incidents deployed in Iraq with its various religions and sectarian groups or even ethnic diversity.

     This is an incident that occurred to the youngest victim of belief and opinion in Iraq; this victim  was killed deliberately despite  all the pleas around him.

      He is aged nine years, and he belongs to Shiite Muslims. His name is: Mojtaba Firas Matlab Chaoui. He lives in the Iraqi province of Basra, Southern Iraq, and his identity card number is: 00012684. He was well-known for his love for one of Shiite Muslim Oulama named Mahmoud al-Hassani Sakhri.

      On July1st,2014  while Mojtaba was in the house of one of his relatives in the region of  Saif Saad, which is located in the Iraqi province of Karbala, where he arrived as a visitor to attend as usual a lecture given by the Shiite Alem : Sakhri.

       According to eyewitnesses: Mitrass Hadi Ashour, Majid Alyaoui, and Alaa Nouri ,they were practicing a ritual of Muslims which is fasting, and before the time of the breakfast, after which a religious lesson was scheduled the following incident took place: Forces of the Iraqi army and various armed militias carrying heavy and medium-range weapons started immediately the attack by firing intensively and randomly the houses of citizens. When asked about the reason behind this attack, the armed forces responded that their objective was to raise the barriers placed in the Saif Saad district by the local police. Unfortunately, even after the lifting of barriers shelling continued by various weapons on the people and the buildings under the undeniable support of warplanes.

          The raiding of houses continued while the child Mojtaba was in the house of one of his relatives called Abu Salah but his full name is Mahdi Hameed Mahdi. When the gunmen arrived at the house of Abu Salah, they shot fire at random and initiated the burning of the house. Though Abu Salah begged them not to burn the home where there were women and children including: Mojtaba,the attacking forces dragged the child Mojtaba and said to Abu Salah, assuming that he is his father,”we will kill your son in front of your eyes!”.AbuSalah tried to convince them that Mojtaba is not his son but in vain; so the armed forces fired at the child Mojtaba and the shots hit most parts of his body. The medical report available so far indicates that three bullets hit his shoulder and four hit the abdomen and three others hit  the basin and one bullet was found in the thigh while the leg was torn  from the top down by a sharp military bayonet. The medical report which is backed up by legal documentation and the testimony of witnesses also notes that Mojtaba had been dragged from his ear from his house to the side of the road with hits by the butt of the guns that kept clear signs on his head and then he was thrown by the side of the road while bleeding for days until he died.

Recommendations and decisions:

                  The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, whether in article 18 from the declaration of1948 or paragraph (A) of Article 18 amended in 1981or the announcement number 22 of 1993 from the special Covenant on Civil, Political and Religious Rights, they all criminalize this act and penalize the perpetrators by the most  tough legal sanctions.

               And we, in BAMRO, call the United Nations and its committees and bodies to adopt the case of the child Mojtaba and we hope that they support the human rights case brought by The Belgian Organization for Human Rights and Development soon after it received the call and the power of attorney of the child's family Mojtaba against all of:

1-Nouri Kamel Maliki                        2-Abdul Mahdi Karbalani

3-Aqil Trihi                                          4-Othman Ganimi

    The latter ones, according to the list of call, instructed the attacking troops to use force and kill children, women and the elderly without the slightest mercy.

Resolutions:

   The Belgian Organization for Human Rights and Development decided to celebrate annually the youngest victim of belief and opinion, who lost his life for that. It equally decided to make of the first of July of every year, an occasion to celebrate Mojtaba and the rest of the children of Iraq.

    The Belgian Organization for Human Rights and Development undertakes to pursue suspects in international courts and follow up the case directly to enhance the protection of freedom of opinion and expression which is guaranteed by international law and the mechanisms of the United Nations.

-A copy to the Geneva Office.

-A copy to the High Commissioner of the United Nations.

-A copy to the United Nations representative in Iraq.

-A copy to the European Parliament in Brussels.

-A copy for the International Commission of lawyers in Brussels.

-A copy to the media.