Protestors demand an official apology from Baghdad to the Halabja victims

Shafaq News / Kurdish human rights organization called today on the Iraqi government to officially apologize for the genocide that the former regime had committed in Halabja.

Shafaq News agency's correspondent reported that a protest was organized in al-Sulaymaniyah today on the 34th anniversary of the Halabja bloody events.

"We demand the Iraqi government to apologize for the victims of the chemical attack, and compensate them in a way that is equivalent to all the damage they suffered from", the protest said.

They also stressed the need to go after the companies that supported the former regime in its attack on Halabja.

The protestors called for Iraq to become a member of the International Criminal Court so it can discuss its problems directly, in addition to granting Halabja's rights from Baghdad and Erbil.

On the morning of March 16, 1988, Iraqi warplanes and artillery pounded the Kurdish town of Halabja with mustard gas and the deadly nerve agent sarin.

Some 5,000 people – mainly women and children – died on the day, and up to 12,000 have lost their lives since.

On the morning of Eid al-Adha on December 30, 2006, the former dictator, Saddam Hussein, was hanged for crimes against humanity.

Three years later, Ali Hassan al-Majid, better known as Chemical Ali, was executed after he was found guilty of ordering the attack.