US sanctions four Iraqis for rights abuses, corruption

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WASHINGTON, July 19, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The United States on Thursday
sanctioned two Iraqi militia leaders and two former governors for human
rights abuses and corruption.

The sanctions target any property they own or have an interest in that is
within the United States or under the control of “US persons,” as well as
“any entities” in which they have a 50 percent or greater stake, the Treasury
Department said.

Ahmed al-Juburi, the former governor of Iraq’s Salaheddin province, was
sanctioned over corruption and has also “been known to protect his personal
interests by accommodating Iran-backed proxies,” Treasury said in a
statement.

The two militia leaders, Rayan al-Kildani and Waad Qado — the former a
Christian and the latter a member of the Shabak minority — were both
sanctioned over “serious human rights abuse” by them or their organizations.

Treasury cited a video circulated in May 2018 in which Kildani “cut off the
ear of a handcuffed detainee,” and said that his forces have “systematically
looted homes” and “reportedly illegally seized and sold agricultural land.”

Qado’s militia has meanwhile “extracted money from the population around
Bartalla, in the Nineveh Plain, through extortion, illegal arrests, and
kidnappings” and has “frequently detained people without warrants, or with
fraudulent warrants.”

Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday that the United States was imposing
sanctions on the leaders of two Iranian-linked militia groups in Iraq, but
the Treasury statement made no mention of the commanders being tied to Iran.

“Let me be clear, the United States will not stand idly while Iranian-
backed militias spread terror,” Pence told a high-level meeting on religious
freedom, without naming the individuals targeted.

A State Department official told AFP that Pence was referring to Kildani
and Qado, saying: “The respective militias they lead are backed by Iran.”

– Endemic corruption –

When asked if the two had Iran ties, the Treasury Department meanwhile
responded by highlighting Juburi’s alleged links to Tehran-backed groups.

The fourth person sanctioned is Nawfel Akoub, the former governor of Iraq’s
Nineveh province.

He was sanctioned for being responsible for, complicit in or engaged in
“corruption, including the misappropriation of state assets, the
expropriation of private assets for personal gain, corruption related to
government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, or bribery,” the
Treasury Department said.

Reached by AFP, Akoub denied the allegations and slammed Treasury’s
decision.

“I call on the Treasury to review its decision. They should check the
information that they received more closely. This decision is invalid,
politicized and based on false information,” Akoub said.

Iraq’s parliament voted to sack Akoub after an overloaded riverboat
capsized in March, leaving 100 people dead, most of them women and children.

Iraq’s anti-corruption Integrity Commission said earlier this year that
officials “close to Akoub” had embezzled a total of $64 million in public
funds.

The money, which was allegedly stolen in the aftermath of the ferry
sinking, included nearly $40 million set aside to rebuild Mosul, which was
ravaged by more than two years of Islamic State group rule followed by months
of fierce fighting to retake the city from the jihadists.

Graft is endemic across Iraq, which ranks among the world’s worst offenders
in Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perceptions Index.

Since 2004, a year after the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, a
total of $228 billion has vanished into the pockets of shady politicians and
businessmen, parliament said last year.