On 12 June 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) summarily executed between 1,095 and 1,700[2] Iraqi cadets near Tikrit. The killings took place during ISIL's Northern Iraq offensive, when the cadets were captured outside of Camp Speicher during their attempt to flee from the area.[3][4] At the time of the massacre, there were between 5,000 and 10,000 unarmed cadets in the vicinity of Camp Speicher,[5] and ISIL militants selected the Shia Muslims for execution. As of 2024[update], it remains the deadliest act of terrorism in Iraq and the second-deadliest single act of terrorism in the world, surpassed only by the September 11 attacks in the United States.[6]
Events
Alleged dishonesty of the Iraqi government
Several survivors later testified that their senior officers in the camp had forced them to leave the camp.[5][7] Hassan Khalil, one survivor, who managed to escape by pretending to be dead under another corpse and fleeing at night, said: "Our chief officers are the reason behind the killings. They forced us to leave Speicher. They assured us there was a safe passage, that it was guarded by the tribes, and told us not to wear uniforms." "They sold us to ISIS", he added. The Iraqi government and national television denied that story. They said the cadets forced their way out of the camps after the military had already dispatched special forces to the dangerous camps' area to secure them, and that they had been warned against leaving.[8]
Four hundred cadets ordered to leave Camp Speicher before the attack were arrested by government forces and are missing.[9]
Massacre and ISIL propaganda footage
Peter Bouckaert, the emergencies director for Human Rights Watch (HRW), stated: "The photos and satellite images from Tikrit provide strong evidence of a horrible war crime that needs further investigation. [ISIS] and other abusive forces should know that the eyes of Iraqis and the world are watching".[10]
The photos show masked ISIL fighters tying up the cadets and loading them up on trucks, with other photographs showing ISIL fighters killing dozens of the cadets with assault rifles while they are lying down.[11] ISIL propaganda videos show them shooting at hundreds of men lined up in mass graves in the desert.[12] Some cadets faked their death, covering themselves with blood and escaping at night.[11] Survivor Ali Hussein Kadhim told his story to The New York Times following his escape from the massacre.[11]
ISIL released footage of the massacre as part of their propaganda video Upon the Prophetic Methodology. The cadets are seen being crammed into trucks, some of them wearing civilian clothes to hide their military uniforms. Most of them are lying on the ground, with their jeans stripped to reveal camouflage uniforms underneath. Some of the prisoners were forced to defame Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, while others were forced to shout "long live the Islamic State". Some of them were beaten to death with a rifle. The killing methods varied, from shooting the cadets one by one to shooting them while lying down many times to ensure death.[citation needed] Some cadets were shot and dumped into the Tigris river.[13]
Aftermath
25 August 2014, a mother of one of the Camp Speicher massacre victims protests, throws her headscarf at the Iraqi parliament speaker, Salim al-Jabouri.Memorial for dead of the Camp Speicher massacre at the location of the incident at the presidential palaces in Tikrit
The Iraqi government asserted that 57 members of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party had taken part in the massacre.[14] Although pictures showed that every armed man was from ISIS, the government stated "Without any doubts and suspicion, all of these criminals are from the banned Ba'ath Party."[15] The Minister of Defense, Sa'dun al-Dulaimi, stated that the massacre was not sectarian in nature.[16] Although the spokesman of the Iraqi Armed Forces, Qasim Atta, stated that there were almost 11,000 cadets and soldiers missing from Camp Speicher; he also stated that thousands were executed in or near the presidential palaces, the al-Bu Agail region, and the Badoush prison by sectarian violence.[17]
On the 2nd of September, more than 100 members of the families of the killed and missing cadets and soldiers broke into the Iraqi Parliament and hit three of the security guards.[18] After a day, a session started in the parliament with the attendance of representatives of the families and Sa'dun al-Dulaimi, along with other military officials to discuss the massacre.[19]
On 16 September, the KurdishAsayish arrested four people suspected to be involved in the massacre in southern Kirkuk.[20] An unnamed security source stated, "The operation was executed by relying on intelligence information to arrest them."[21]
On 18 September, the Iraqi Human Rights ministry stated that as of 17 September, the total number of missing soldiers and cadets was 1,095,[22] denying the most popular figure of 1,700 soldiers having been killed. The ministry added, "The ministry relied in its statistics on spreading forms on the families of the missing people in Baghdad and the other governorate within its quest to document the crimes and violations that the terrorist group of the Islamic State is committing towards our people."[23] The Iraqi government ordered them to pay 10 million Iraqi dinar (equivalent to US$8,600) to the families of the missing cadets.[23]
Fall of ISIL
Following the Iraqi forces' victory over ISIL in Tikrit in early April 2015, mass graves containing some of the murdered cadets were located and the decomposed corpses began to be exhumed.[24] Two of the alleged perpetrators of the massacre were arrested in Forssa, Finland, in December 2015.[citation needed] The suspects were identified from ISIL propaganda videos in which the executions of 11 men took place.[citation needed] Police did not disclose whether the men had made applications for asylum in Finland.[25] On 13 December 2016, the 24-year-old twins were charged with murder and committing a war crime for allegedly killing unarmed cadets, as well as "aggravated assault with terrorist aims".[26] They were acquitted by the Pirkanmaa District Court in May 2017. After the prosecution appealed the ruling they were again acquitted by the Turku Court of Appeal in February 2020 due to lack of evidence of the brothers involvement in the massacre.[27]
In August 2016, 36 men were executed by hanging for their part in the massacre.[28] On 6 September 2016, three mass graves were found by the Kata’ib al-Imam Ali brigade containing the remains of over 30 people killed in the massacre.[29] In August 2017, 27 people were sentenced to death for their involvement in the massacre, and another 25 men were released due to lack of evidence.[30]
