Pattern of Anfal: Capture and Imprisonment
After an Anfal attack, survivors were captured, imprisoned and subjected to harassment and torture. Many thousands of men, women and children were executed at remote sites across Iraq by special units reminiscent of the Nazi death squads.
I fastened my baby to my back with a scarf: if I died jumping off the lorry, she'd have a better chance of survival
I regret not telling my brother to escape: he'd still have been killed but at least I'd have seen his body
The Turkman guard said, "I'll help free you, otherwise you're doomed"
We had no idea where our family were and my sister-in-law went into labour on the roadside
At Topzawa prison they wouldn't let us use the toilets: we were all forced to urinate in shared rooms
If someone died the prison guards dragged the corpse outside and fed it to a pack of dogs
They placed the newborn baby in my arms and it began to shiver even more than me
They took everything: money, jewellery, IDs and prayer beads
Pattern of Anfal: Separation and Mass Execution
At Topazawa, an internment camp on the outskirts of Kirkuk, women and children were separated from male prisoners. Many men were then sent to be executed and buried in mass graves.
Detained in Erbil Security Prison
Gas victims were moved to an Erbil hospital where they were refused treatment. Described as ‘Iranian agents’ by the Iraqi authorities, they were interned in Erbil, where many died.
We were detained for nine nights but it felt like nine years
People would walk, shake, collapse and then lose their breath until they died
I thought they'd been attacked with fists, rifle butts and bats – I never thought they'd been gassed
Some families lay next to me and died in their sleep
We tied babies to their blinded mothers with material from their dresses
I watched them take 29 of our men: we never saw them again
The prison guards didn't give them a thing to eat, not even a grain of rice
I walked my son to the bus: I knew I'd never see him again
I saw mothers sing laments for their daughters, sons for their mothers and men for their dead wives
We saw the boys twisting in pain in front of us on the floor
What did small children do to deserve being attacked with chemicals?
My two year old sister died in my mother's arms and when they carried her away she blacked out
Survivors Reunite with Family
The women and children who survived Erbil Security Prison were freed near Khalifan, a remote town which was 90 minutes drive away. Nine died on the first day of their release. Those who survived were cared for by local Kurdish people and then reunited with their families.
When your mother doesn't recognise you, it feels like the end of life
My nephew didn't know me, but he crawled towards us and everybody began to cry
When my husband returned he was covered in wounds and his whole body was burned
The nurse showed me a hole in the barbed wire fence and said, "Save yourself"
Losing my son is a never ending pain because I wasn't able to bury him
I marked the paper with a name and left it by their grave so their family could identify them
What would we go back to? Our village had been burned
