Iraq completes excavation of a mass grave site in Anbar: UNITAD

“Ultimately, the remains of these victims will be returned to their families where they would receive proper and dignified burial according to traditions and beliefs,” UNITAD said.
Iraqi authorities excavate a mass grave site in the Anbar Governorate (Photo: UNITAD)
Iraqi authorities excavate a mass grave site in the Anbar Governorate (Photo: UNITAD)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The United Nations' investigative body on ISIS (known as UNITAD) on Thursday said Iraqi authorities completed the excavation of a mass grave site in Bir Mantiqa al-Halwat, Anbar province, left by ISIS in October 2014.

The excavation was done in cooperation with the United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da'esh (UNITAD).

The site was selected according to the Joint Mass Graves Investigations Strategy, adopted by Iraqi authorities and UNITAD in September 2020, UNITAD said in a statement

The Iraqi authorities have also concluded a campaign to enable the victims' relatives to register their family members as missing and provide DNA samples to identify the human remains.

A general invite was sent out to the families of the victims of the al-Bu Nimr tribe from Hit district to attend the Anbar Health Directorate center from September 21-28.

Hundreds of members of the Sunni al-Bu Nimr tribe were slaughtered in 2014 for resisting ISIS in 2014.

According to UNITAD, the collection of evidentiary material--be it the forensic evidence excavated in the field at the mass grave site, or the DNA samples collected at the Anbar Health Directorate--is indispensable to gathering concrete evidence and piecing together the narrative around the atrocities ISIS committed against members of the al-Bu Nimr tribe.

Dia' Sa'idi, the head of Iraq's Mass Graves Directorate (MGD), said that the excavations resulted in documenting evidence that will be used in future court cases.

He added that this will "enable the judiciary to identify and hold the perpetrators accountable and provide redress to the families of the victims."

UNITAD also said that identifying the remains and their return to their families is also crucial to bringing closure to family members who lost their loved ones at the hands of ISIS.

"Ultimately, the remains of these victims will be returned to their families where they would receive proper and dignified burial according to traditions and beliefs," UNITAD said.

In September, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced the appointment of Christian Ritscher from Germany as the new head of UNITAD.

Read More: UN appoints new head of investigative body for ISIS war crimes

UNITAD was established by UN Security Council Resolution 2379 in 2017 to support local efforts to hold ISIS accountable by collecting, preserving, and storing evidence in Iraq of acts that may amount to war crimes and genocide.