Statement of The Central Committee of Coordination to Support the Iraqi Uprising On the Massacre of Hawija

On Tuesday, April 23, 2013 at dawn, forces of the Iraqi army, led by the commander of the ground forces criminal Ali Ghaidan attacked a public square in the town of Hawija, in the province of Tamim (Kirkuk), where there were approximately 4,000 peaceful protestors. The attack resulted in the death of 50 civilians and wounding several hundreds according to security sources. The massacre comes after a siege of the square that lasted four days, cutting of water, food and medicine on the peaceful protesters. Many of the Iraqi cities in Anbar, Nineveh and Salahuddin announced civil disobedience to protest the siege of the protesters in Hawija.

For the last four months, millions of Iraqis in many cities have been participating in a sit-in protest against the repressive policy of the government of Nouri al-Maliki, especially against the inhuman treatment of detainees, torture, arbitrary arrests and abuses, particularly against women held in prison as hostages. They were also protesting against the administrative and financial corruption, the political paralysis and non-existent services and a sectarian government, wholly subjected to the will of the Iranian regime. It is important to remember that the head of the government, al-Maliki, has publicly threatened the peaceful protestors since the early days of the sit-in that he will use force to disperse them.

Although this is not the first time that the repressive Iraqi authorities assassinate the peaceful protestors, it had happened before in Fallujah, Baquba and other places during the past few months; and it has also carried out more arrests and violations of reprisals, and executions in response to the protest, instead of listening to the citizens and try to respond to their demands. But this time it has exceeded all limits and norms when the non-national sectarian army opened its fires against thousands of civilians in a horrific massacre, to the silence of the world, Arabs and Muslims.

The Central Committee of Coordination to Support the Iraqi Uprising, as it declares in the strongest expressions its condemnation and denunciation of these crimes, holds the illegal Iraqi authorities installed by the American occupation, the full responsibility for this slaughter, and all other crimes that preceded it. It also holds the entire international community, the United Nations, the Arab League and the Islamic Conference, and all human rights organizations and organizations calling for peace and democracy, holds them responsible for silence before shedding the Iraqi blood for 10 years of criminal occupation and its horrible consequences against the Iraqi people, land, economy, and culture.

At the same time, the Committee appeals to all the forces of good in the world, to support the Iraqi uprising of and the heroic Iraqi resistance in its struggle against the occupation, and exercise all the political, media, and legal pressures to expose this slaughter and prosecute its perpetrators.

The Central Committee of Coordination to Support the Iraqi Uprising

April 23^rd, 2013