GENEVA (7 June 2016) – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein and many other organizations and individual in defense of human rights on Tuesday condemned the brutal atrocities carried out by the Iranian regime backed Shiite militias in Fallujah, Iraq.

“There are extremely distressing, credible reports that some people … face severe physical abuse once they reach the other side,” the High Commissioner said. “Eyewitnesses have described how armed groups … separating the men and teenage boys from the women and children, and detaining the males for ‘security screening’, which in some cases degenerates into physical violations and other forms of abuse, apparently in order to elicit forced confessions. There are even allegations that some individuals have been summarily executed by these armed groups.”

“It is paramount that all individuals fleeing the violence around Fallujah must be assumed to be civilians without links to armed groups, unless there is clear and cogent evidence to the contrary.”

The High Commissioner added that the security vetting must be carried out in a transparent manner, in full compliance with international law. If there is substantive information that a particular individual may have committed crimes or may constitute a security risk, the person can be detained in compliance with the law, and the detention must be subject to appropriate judicial review.

Since January 2014, when Fallujah was captured by ISIL, at least 22,169 civilians have been killed and 43,435 wounded in Iraq. These casualty figures are considered an absolute minimum as they do not include Anbar Province, where Fallujah is located, and also do not include people who died from secondary effects of violence, such as lack of water, food, medicines or health care.
The spokesperson for the human rights commission also said that there are credible information and reports that at least 21 men have been killed without due process of the law.
US State Dept. spokesman, Mark Tonner said international reports of the violation of human rights of theose who scape Fallujah is quite disturbing.