Kirkuk warned of the Conspiracy of portraying criminals as victims

Shafaq News/ Iraqi MP from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan said on Wednesday that some parties are attempting to cram the names of those involved in terrorism into the list of missing citizens, warning of a "major conspiracy" to turn criminals into victims.

This statement comes in response to the statement of the Arab Council in Kirkuk, which claimed that there were "Arab missing citizens" in Kurdistan's prisons since 2004.

The council demanded the Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, to reveal the fate of the Arab "missing citizens" from Kirkuk governorate, claiming that they had "been kidnapped, imprisoned and absent since 2004 in the prisons of Kurdistan Region after they were taken from Kirkuk by Kurdish security forces affiliated to the two main parties", According to a statement of the council.

MP Jamal Muhammad Shakour told Shafaq News Agency, "attempts by some parties to transform Al Qaeda and ISIS terrorists to disappeared prisoners, despite their perpetration of the most heinous crimes against humanity in Kirkuk, with dozens of explosions that killed hundreds of martyrs since 2003, in addition to destroying the infrastructure of the governorate".

He added, "We also suspect that the terrorist elements affiliated with ISIS who were killed or fled to other destinations, were registered in the missing citizens record. In the same context, many people who supported ISIS have returned to Kirkuk regularly amid great astonishment among the families of victims who were affected by the attacks and practices of ISIS".

Shakour pointed to, "security failures in Kirkuk regarding the files of terrorists and members of terrorist organizations who returned to state departments and other administrative units in the governorate with masks, other addresses and coverages from some parties to keep them away from the security pursuit".

Shakour called on Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, "to immediately intervene, clean Kirkuk and the records of the disappeared from Al Qaeda and ISIS criminals, prevent a major conspiracy that turns the criminal into a victim and redress the victims' families, because this is an underestimation of the Iraqi blood that was shed in Kirkuk and Iraq".