ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The Secretary General of the Kurdish Ministry of Peshmerga denied on Monday that a man in a video beating an Arab man is a member of the Peshmerga forces.
The video shows two young men, muddied, climbing out of a ditch.
"You are not a student," tells the Kurdish man wearing a military uniform on the top.
"I swear by God I am a student in Mosul University," replies one of the two young men, apparently in their twenties who seem to be displaced, as he climbs up the trench filled with water towards the Kurdish men as they are asked to do so.
Meanwhile the cries of women and children could be heard begging for mercy for the two young men who emerge out of the trench, facing the Kurdish man with a stick, as he speaks to them in Arabic.
One of the men could be heard saying that they are not ISIS militants as he receives several hits on his back, while trying to protect himself from the beating with his two bare hands.
The Kurdish man asks them constantly to lay down on the ground, as he holds a stick in one hand, and a Kalashnikov-style rifle in the other.
He then beats one of the men in the head with the stick, knocking him down on the ground. The man appears motionless for a while, only to be forced to stand up again, and asked to "leave" in offensive language in Arabic.
One Kurdish man is heard saying offensive things about a mother of one of the apparent IDPs.
One woman, apparently in response to an offence from the Kurdish men, wonders whether he says they are women getting paid for sex, using a derogative word instead.
One of the Kurdish men responds: "You are, all Arabs are.”
Meanwhile, two young men are forced back to the other side across the trench at gun point.
Peshmerga Ministry’s Secretary General Jabar Yawar told Rudaw on Monday that the man in the video was not a member of the Peshmerga forces.
“The video footage circulated on Arab media and social networks dates back to 2015. The person who appears to hit the Arab national is not a Peshmerga soldier. He is a volunteer citizen who has done this as a personal reaction,” Yawar said.
“We are against disrespect and torture. Hurting people is not part of the principles and high morals which identify the Peshmerga forces. The Peshmerga fighters are fighting the war on terror and are defending humanity on behalf of the world.”
Yawar added that the ministry’s legal office would accept filed complaints relevant to the issue.
“The Arab national from Hawija who appears to be hit by the volunteer, has no problems and is living freely in Kirkuk. If he has any complaints against any employee or Peshmerga fighter, we ask him to file it at the Peshmerga Ministry’s law office.”
Rudaw cannot independently verify the video, nor can it tell where or when the incident was filmed.
