ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Eight Peshmerga commanders, PUK officials, and other Kurdish civilian officials are facing a lawsuit after being accused of complicity in the looting and destruction of a residential property in Jalawla. The officials say lawsuits are being filed by ISIS families.
An individual from Jalawla has filed a lawsuit accusing the officials of being complicit in the destruction and looting of his home by Peshmerga forces.
The lawsuit is filed against Mahmoud Sangawi, the commander of Peshmerga’s Garmaser front, Yaqub Yousif, the mayor of Jalawla, Asayish officers, Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) office cadres, and other municipal officials.
“Following the liberation of the Jalawla district from the terrorist Daesh [ISIS] organization and the administrative and security files for the Jalawla district falling into the hands of Peshmerga forces and Asayish, my house, located in Jalawla, was destroyed and emptied of its belongings,” reads the lawsuit of the unknown accuser.
“So I am demanding that legal action be taken against the accused,” the person demands.
Jalawla is in Khanaqin in northern Diyala province. It briefly fell to ISIS in 2014, but was later liberated by Peshmerga forces. The town is part of the disputed territories – contested between the Kurdistan Region and Iraq. Kurds know the town as Gulala, but its name has been Arabized to Jalawla.
“They have to file lawsuits against Daesh, not us. The destruction that befell Gulala and the area was done by Daesh fighters, not Peshmerga,” Mahmoud Sangawi, commander of Peshmerga’s Garmaser front, told Rudaw.
“Daesh didn’t throw stones at us for us to respond with stones. Our artillery responded to Daesh’s artillery,” Sangawi said.
He also said many homes were destroyed by booby traps left by ISIS and set off by feral animals.
“We were in Gulala to establish peace, not to destroy houses. I am sure the one filing the lawsuit is a family member of those Daesh fighters who killed our sons,” Sangawi said. Some 168 Peshmerga soldiers died to liberate the town, he added.
“We have information that tens of lawsuits under the name of ‘Plaintiff’ have been filed. We know that the plaintiffs are families of Daesh,” Colonel Farhad Raf’at, the director of Khanaqin crime prevention police, and one of the accused, told Rudaw.
The mayor of Gulala has been in prison for more than 10 days accused of destroying houses.
Gulala and the disputed territories fell into the hands of the Iraq Army following the events of October 16.
An individual from Jalawla has filed a lawsuit accusing the officials of being complicit in the destruction and looting of his home by Peshmerga forces.
The lawsuit is filed against Mahmoud Sangawi, the commander of Peshmerga’s Garmaser front, Yaqub Yousif, the mayor of Jalawla, Asayish officers, Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) office cadres, and other municipal officials.
“Following the liberation of the Jalawla district from the terrorist Daesh [ISIS] organization and the administrative and security files for the Jalawla district falling into the hands of Peshmerga forces and Asayish, my house, located in Jalawla, was destroyed and emptied of its belongings,” reads the lawsuit of the unknown accuser.
The accuser says the officials did nothing to prevent the looting and destruction of houses.
“So I am demanding that legal action be taken against the accused,” the person demands.
Jalawla is in Khanaqin in northern Diyala province. It briefly fell to ISIS in 2014, but was later liberated by Peshmerga forces. The town is part of the disputed territories – contested between the Kurdistan Region and Iraq. Kurds know the town as Gulala, but its name has been Arabized to Jalawla.
“They have to file lawsuits against Daesh, not us. The destruction that befell Gulala and the area was done by Daesh fighters, not Peshmerga,” Mahmoud Sangawi, commander of Peshmerga’s Garmaser front, told Rudaw.
“Daesh didn’t throw stones at us for us to respond with stones. Our artillery responded to Daesh’s artillery,” Sangawi said.
He also said many homes were destroyed by booby traps left by ISIS and set off by feral animals.
“We were in Gulala to establish peace, not to destroy houses. I am sure the one filing the lawsuit is a family member of those Daesh fighters who killed our sons,” Sangawi said. Some 168 Peshmerga soldiers died to liberate the town, he added.
“We have information that tens of lawsuits under the name of ‘Plaintiff’ have been filed. We know that the plaintiffs are families of Daesh,” Colonel Farhad Raf’at, the director of Khanaqin crime prevention police, and one of the accused, told Rudaw.
The mayor of Gulala has been in prison for more than 10 days accused of destroying houses.
Gulala and the disputed territories fell into the hands of the Iraq Army following the events of October 16.
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