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July 11, 2008
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Survivor of Halabja who had 18 surgeries in 20 years, kicked and beaten by police
Kurdishaspect.com - Translated by Dr Kamal Mirawdeli
Sulaymaniyah, Hawlati, 10 July 2008, report by Falah Najim.
Sick, poor and homeless, lost and without support, he sleeps rough at night in front of Sulaymaniayah's Mizgawti Gawra (Grand Mosque) on a thick bare paper board and at day time he seeks employment as labourer.
But Kurdistan Regional Government thinks that even this hard paper board is too much for him. On 28/20June 2008 a big 'crime elimination police force' attacked the place where he was sleeping and along with tens of other homeless workers, he was pushed with kicks and blows to a Ford vehicle and then moved to prison.
This is another part of the story of this young man from Halabja whose name is Kawa Muhamamd Amin. He is now 27 years old. When he tells his story he cannot help crying and making all those who listen to him cry with him.
He has now become a homeless wanderer. Every winter he goes to a village to work as a shepherd. In summer times he comes to Sulaymaniyah city to sleep rough on streets and pavements and work as a labourer although he has had 18 operations so far. He is told that he still needs 6 more operations. But he has no money to pay for them. What makes him really sad is that he has been told by doctors that he could have completely recovered if he had had early operations.
He says: 'At the time of the chemical attack, our mother died. We all suffered from fainting, skin diseases, vomiting blood, and nerve and brain diseases. Since then my tragedies started.' After the chemical attack all the members of the family were affected and wounded and were taken to Iran. But he did not know anything about the fate of one his brothers. He did not know whether he died or survived. After nine years a Kurdish refugee from Kirkuk in Austria informs him that his brother has survived and is living in Austria. But his brother too does not have a normal life. He is still in an Austrian hospital under medical care and has forgotten everything about his family.
Kawa went to school until the fifth year. But then, he says, 'I gave up school because of poverty. I had to go out with my father to look for a job as labourer because we did not have any source of income. I did not want to see my father so tired and exhausted. We had to pay rent and this needed two people to work. My father was also wounded in the attack but he continued to work to support his children. He died 12 days ago.'
Now Kawa Amin has lost both his parents. His only brother is sick in Austria. He had two other sisters who area also ill. They still bleed and faint.
Thus Kawa has no choice but to work, in spite of his health condition, as a labourer. Every day in this burning summer heat he breaks down walls with a hammer and does demanding physical refurbishing work. He says:' It happens that I faint several times during one day's work. But the employers feel pity and still give me my day's wage. If I don't keep on working, I will starve.'
Besides all this tragedy and suffering in his life, comes 'the brutal treatment' of the police of the elimination of crime. At midnight of the end of last month, just one week after the death of his father, while he was in deep sleep, he was awakened with kicks and blows, insulted, and taken to prison for the crime of sleeping in front of God's house.
'It was 2.30 after midnight. I was sleeping in a small garden patch in front of Mizgawti Gawra. I was suddenly awakened with the fall of kicks on my body. I saw the police and shouted to them: I am a wounded survivor of chemical attack. My body is full of injuries. I cannot endure beating and hurt.' When I said that it seems that they showed some mercy because they only used kicks and blows to beat me. Then they pulled me to a vehicle and took me to the 'police for the elimination of crime.' When I was released I had not eaten anything for 36 hours and did not have money because I had not worked. Then someone showed mercy and bought me dinner.'
After this experience, Kawa Muhammad Amin feels alienated from this city. He says: I thought it was my city and country. But if I am treated like this, I will leave to Halabja and never come back to this city.'
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A Kurdish man now living in New Zealand searches for the family he lost in Iraq. Despite the sectarian violence that rages around him, watch as he struggles to find the family he had to leave behind.
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When the Ba'th regime bombed Halabja with chemical gases he was only seven years old. He was severely wounded as a result of this attack and since then he has remained sick and weak. During the last 20 years, since the attack, he has had 18 operations and he still needs more to survive.
