◆ SpookStack

1631-HQ-1462938 According to local officials in Al-Hillah, several persons who were taken to the Al-Mahawil mass grave sites survived the executions at the Al-Mahawil brick factory mass grave site. HRW located one such survivor and his remarkable story provides important information about the manner in which the mass execution campaign was conducted in Al-Mahawil. CT thereinatter[———*d was only 12 years old at the time of the 1991 mass arrest campaign. On March 16, 19 , his 28 year-old mother, KHULUD “ABUD NAJI, took and two other 13 year old relatives, his uncle, MUHANAD “ABUD NAJI, and his cousin, MUHAMMAD YASSIN B6 MUHAMMAD, from their home in the Al-Sa~da neighborhood to their pyc grandfather’s house in the Sha’awi neighborhood. On their way, a soldier stopped the group, asked them where they were going, and accused them of being looters. mother explained that they were just going to their grandfather's house, but the soldier arrested all of them and took them to a nearby school building. According to “they put us in a school in a classroom. By the evening, the classroom was filled with people because they kept arresting people.” As evening fell, the people detained in the classroom were taken to the Al-Mahawil military base where: they blindfolded us and bound our hands, and then they put us in landcruisers with shaded windows and a bus. We were about 25 to 30 people [detained] ... They took us to the Al- Mahawil military base. Some of us were taken to another area [of the Al-Mahawil base]. They put me, my mother, my cousin, and my uncle in a tiny room. In the night of the same day, they brought a 14 year-old girl and a 30 year-old woman to the same room. The family spent the night in the tiny room without food. The next morning they were questioned by high-ranking officers, including a lieutenant-colonel, who noted their names, the neighborhood they came from, and similar details. Following the perfunctory questioning, they were taken to a large hall at the Al-Mahawil military base where they were again joined by other detainees: They took us to a big hall [and] started bringing in people now and then. We stayed there for two days. There were so many people.... They were children, women, and 86