A university in Erbil forms a committee on the former regime's crimes against the Fayli Kurds

Shafaq News/ The University of Salahaddin has established a committee to document the crimes of Saddam Hussein's regime against the Fayli Kurds minority, spokesperson to the Erbil-based institution Saman Abdullah told Shafaq News Agency on Saturday.

"The committee brings together three cadres from the university," Abdullah said, "the purpose of the committee is promoting the recognition of the crimes against the Fayli Kurds as Genocide."

Between 1970 and 2003, Saddam Hussein systemically persecuted the Fayli Kurdish minority. The persecution campaigns led to the expulsion, flight, and effective exile of the Fayli Kurds from their ancestral lands in Iraq.

The persecution began when a large number of Fayli Kurds were exposed to a big campaign by the regime that began by the dissolved RCCR issuance for 666 decision, which deprived Fayli Kurds of Iraqi nationality and considered them as Iranians. The systematic executions started in Baghdad and Khanaqin in 1979 and later spread to other Iraqi and Kurdish areas.

An estimated 300,000–500,000. Fayli Kurds had been deported to Iran as a result of the persecution campaigns and at least 15,000 Fayli Kurds have disappeared. Their remains have not been found.