Europe Iraq Association: Evict Iran from Iraq after Sunnis genocide

Militia affiliated to the Iranian regime must be evicted from Iraq in the wake of a genocidal attack on Sunnis by Shi'ite killers linked to the regime's terrorist Qods Force, a leading MEP has demanded.

The United Nations must also condemn the crimes of the Iranian regime and its militia in Iraq and Syria and refer them to the International Criminal Court, European Iraqi Freedom Association president Struan Stevenson said.

He wrote in a press release: "We are shocked at the reports of ethnic cleansing and genocide, forced migration, burning of mosques and homes of Sunnis in various regions of Iraq, especially in Diyala province, by the brutal Shiite militias affiliated with the terrorist Iranian Qods Force, sometimes assisted by Iraqi military personnel.

"According to survivors, people were taken from their homes by men in uniform; heads down and linked together, then led in small groups to a field made to kneel and shot one by one. At least 72 locals including children were executed. The militias planted explosives in 1400 houses and 12 mosques in Sherwin villages and set them on fire.

"Such atrocities undermine our fight against ISIS in Iraq. Pro-Iranian regime militias have vast regions of Iraq under their control and are a mirror-image of ISIS - or in the words of some Iraqi Kurdish officials are worse than ISIS - and are carrying out crimes against humanity.

"We repeatedly warned that Iran’s meddling in Iraq and their control of the former Iraqi government under their marionette Nouri al-Maliki, created the ideal conditions for ISIS to enter the country. Unless the Iranians are uprooted and evicted from Iraq the war against ISIS cannot be won."

Mr Stevenson, former chairman of Delegation for Relations with Iraq at the European Parliament, said the West must now take three urgent steps to halt Iran's meddling in its neighbour's territories.

Firstly, to urge Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to condemn these atrocities, disclose their perpetrators and to dismiss and punish the known elements of the Qods Force such as Hadi Ameri. Failure to act would lead to an escalation of these crimes and would convince the Iraqi people that Dr al-Abadi had failed.

Secondly, to evict the Iranian regime, the Qods Force and its so-called Shiite militias from Iraq. This cannot be achieved without the immediate involvement of the United States and the coalition, he said, and was important as the current policy of aerial bombing of ISIS positions. Otherwise the US and the coalition would be seen as allies of Iran and its militias in the eyes of the Iraqi people and the Sunnis in the region.

And thirdly, the UN Security Council must condemn the crimes of the Iranian regime and its militia, and refer them the International Criminal Court.

Mr Stevenson added: "The atrocities committed by these forces in recent months in Diyala, Baghdad, Salah ad-Din, Babel are no less worthy of condemnation than those committed by ISIS."