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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
Iraqi Survivors of Saddam's Mass Graves and Torture Chambers to Speak at Heritage Foundation
WASHINGTON, DC 20523
PRESS OFFICE
http://www.usaid.gov/
(202) 712-4320
2004-019
July 21, 2004
Contact: USAID Press Office
For Immediate Release
WASHINGTON D.C. - As the start date of the first Iraqi Tribunals quickly approaches the truth from the mass graves and torture chambers within Iraq will begin to be told. These victims want their stories to be heard by the global audience.
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WHO: | Tamimour (Last Name Witheld), last known survivor of Anfal massacre
Irbrahim (Last Name Witheld), torture survivor and human rights advocate
Jano Rosebiani, film documentarian of "Saddam's Mass Graves" |
TAIMOUR (LAST NAME WITHHELD)
Taimour was only 12 years old in 1988 when he survived the Anfal massacres of an estimated 180,000 Kurdish Iraqis - men, women and children including 110 members of his own extended family who were slaughtered by machine guns in mass graves. He fled to the United States and started a new life. He hopes to testify in the trial of Saddam Hussein.
Taimour's father was a farmer in the remote village of Kulejo; about 20 minutes drive away from the town of Kallar, northeast of Baghdad. One day Iraqi troops took everyone in the village to a military garrison near the Iran border and ten days later to Topzawa jail in Kirkuk.
After a month, vans took the villagers to the desert near the border with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia where they were pushed into graves dug by bulldozers and shot. Taimour was shot several times but managed to crawl away and with the help of Bedouins and others made his way back to Kurdistan.
Because he was perhaps the only victim to witness the Anfal mass killings and survive, rumor reached him that Saddam Hussein had put out a contract on his life. He fled to the United States in 1996 with the help of human rights advocates.
IBRAHIM (LAST NAME WITHHELD)
Ibrahim was born on January 1, 1967 into a much respected religious (Shia) and political family in the Kadimiyah neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq. He completed Secondary School in Baghdad in 1982, but was unable to attend college. He became active in a cultural and social organization which opposed the extremism of the Ba'ath Party. For their activities, thirteen of its members were murdered - two of whom were tortured to death.
Mr. Jano Rosebiani
Iraqi Documentary Film Producer and Expert on Iraq's Mass Graves
Mr. Rosebiani is a self-taught Iraqi-Kurdish/American filmmaker, born and raised in the town of Zakho in Kurdistan of Iraq. In 1974, then a seventh-grader, he along with his family joined the Kurdish uprising and took to the mountains of Northern Iraq. Two years later he became a refugee in the Untied States.
In 1995, following his college education in the United States, Mr. Rosebiani made his feature film debut with "Dance of the Pendulum," - an intellectual dark comedy parodying exploitation in Hollywood.
In 2002, he finished "Jiyan", his first Kurdish film which means "life" when translated into English. Jiyan is the first installment of a documentary trilogy intended to be a window into the world of Kurds in Iraq. Viewers are invited to see a glimpse of the Kurds, their daily life, their culture and their folklore. Most importantly, the film explores the human rights dilemma confronting Kurds living under Saddam Hussein. Jiyan has been a film festival and critics favorite, garnering numerous wards and four-star ratings by The Guardian, The Observer and BBC World.
Mr. Rosebiani's latest works are two documentaries depicting Saddam Hussein and his regime's crimes against humanity. They are "Saddam's Mass Graves" and "Chemical Ali." Saddam's Mass Graves was released in February, 2004, and recently premiered at The Tribeca Film Festival in New York. Chemical Ali will be released in the Fall of 2004 and is expected to be released through major human rights film festivals internationally.
Other awards presented to Mr. Rosebiani for his work include: Special Jury Award - New Director's Showcase, Seattle International Film Festival 2002; "Man and his Environment" Award - International Film Festival Festroia 2002, Setubal, Portugal; Official Selection for Tiger Competition - International Film Festival Rotterdam 2002; In The Spirit of Freedom Award, In Memory of Wim Van Leer - 19th Jerusalem Film Festival 2002; Popular Jury Award - Rights to Have Rights Film Festival 2003. Modena, Italy.
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WHAT: | Will be touring the United States to provide briefings on the current status of Saddam's mass graves and torture chambers as well as an update on the development of Iraqi civil society.
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WHEN: | July 22, 2004 at 10:30 AM
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WHERE: | Heritage Foundation
214 Massachusetts Ave, NE
202-546-4400
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CONTACT: | Please contact José Fuentes, USAID Acting Press Director at (202)712-4035 if you would like an interview or to attend an event or if you require further information.
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