Kurdistan
Picture of Hajaj Ahmed Hardan al-Tikriti who oversaw the executions at Nugra Salman prison: Photo: INSS
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - More than 150 complaints have been filed in Sulaimani province against a recently-arrested man accused of torturing and executing Kurds at a remote southern Iraqi prison during the genocidal Anfal campaign.
Hajaj Ahmed Hardan al-Tikriti, known as “Hajaj Nugra al-Salman,” was arrested last week following a months-long investigation. The Iraqi National Security Service (INSS) described him as “one of the most wanted henchmen of the former regime” of Saddam Hussein, saying he had been living in Salahaddin province and working in animal husbandry.
The complaint process began Monday in the Garmiyan Independent Administration, Chamchamal district, and Sulaimani city’s Amna Suraka - a Baathist-era prison - and will continue through Saturday.
“The process continues and more than 70 complaint forms have been filled out until today,” Jabar Mohammed, head of Garmiyan’s Martyrs and Anfal Affairs Directorate, told Rudaw.
Rudaw has learned that more than 50 forms were submitted in Chamchamal district alone.
“People visit daily and fill out complaint forms. The process has been ongoing for four days today and will continue for the next two days,” said Habil Ahmed, director of the Anfal monument in Chamchamal, where forms are being accepted.
“We request those who were harmed by the criminal Hajaj to fill out complaint forms in the remaining two days,” Chamchamal district mayor Ramk Ramazan told Rudaw.
Forms are also being collected at the Amna Suraka Museum in Sulaimani. Once a prison used by Saddam’s regime for torture, interrogation, and detention. The building - known as the Red Security - has been converted into a museum preserving evidence of Baathist-era atrocities. Torture cells, bullet holes, wall etchings, and prisoner writings remain on display.
In 1988, Saddam Hussein’s Baathist regime launched the Anfal campaign, systematically targeting Kurdish villages and arresting thousands. Young men were often executed, while women, children, and the elderly were sent to the notorious Nugra Salman desert prison in Iraq’s southern Muthanna province, near the Saudi border.
According to the INSS, Tikriti “committed a series of crimes against humanity against hundreds of Iraqi citizens, particularly those of Kurdish origin who were forcibly exiled to Muthanna province. These crimes included torture, murder, and rape inside this infamous detention center.”
Survivors recall Nugra Salman as a place of daily beatings, starvation, and fear - exacerbated by Tikriti’s brutality.
More than 182,000 people were killed and over 4,500 villages destroyed during the eight phases of the Anfal campaign, which culminated in the 1988 chemical attack on Halabja.
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