Civilians in Falluja are trapped.
Inside the city, ISIS will try to use them as human shields. If they try to flee, the terror group will shoot.
And now the United Nations says if they do get away, they face the possibility “severe physical abuse” and even summary execution at the hands of armed groups allied with the Iraqi government.
“Eyewitnesses have described how armed groups operating in support of the Iraqi security forces are intercepting people fleeing the conflict, separating the men and teenage boys from the women and children, and detaining the males for ‘security screening’, which in some cases degenerates into physical violations and other forms of abuse, apparently in order to elicit forced confessions,” according to U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein.
“While the Iraqi security forces have a legitimate interest in vetting individuals fleeing ISIL-controlled areas to ensure they do not pose a risk to security or to identify individuals who may have committed crimes, such vetting must only be carried out by entities [sic] authorized to do so by Iraqi law,” he added.
‘Liberation’ battle
Though the U.N. statement does not name any specific groups, Shia militias known as the Popular Mobilization Units have been supporting the Iraqi army and security forces in the ongoing battle to retake Falluja from ISIS, which has held the city since 2014.
While the city has been besieged for months, Iraqi forces began the operation to liberate Falluja late last month and have the city’s center surrounded.
However, 50,000 civilians — including 20,000 children — remained trapped inside, according to a U.N. estimate.
They’ve had to cope with “acute” shortages of food, medicine and other basic services, such as water supplies.
And they must navigate life under a terror group that has very little regard for their well-being.
One man CNN spoke to said ISIS fighters came to his home and told him he needed to go to the center of Falluja to serve as a human shield for the terror group.
“It was an order,” Taleb Farhan, a resident of Karma on the outskirts of Falluja, said. “If you refused they’d shoot you on the spot.”
For the 60,000 or so who have managed to flee and reach temporary camps, it’s a “race against time” to provide them support, aid organizations say.