WASHINGTON, July 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States sanctioned two Iraqi militia leaders and two former governors for human rights abuses and corruption.
The sanctions target any property they own or have an interest in that is
within the United States or under the control of “US persons,” as well as
“any entities” in which they have a 50 percent or greater stake, the Treasury
Department said.
Ahmed al-Juburi, the former governor of Iraq’s Salaheddin province, was
sanctioned over corruption and has also “been known to protect his personal interests by accommodating Iran-backed proxies,” Treasury said in a statement.
The two militia leaders, Rayan al-Kildani and Waad Qado — the former a
Christian and the latter a member of the Shabak minority — were both
sanctioned over “serious human rights abuse” by them or their organizations.
Treasury cited a video circulated in May 2018 in which Kildani “cut off the
ear of a handcuffed detainee,” and said that his forces have “systematically
looted homes” and “reportedly illegally seized and sold agricultural land.”
Qado’s militia has meanwhile “extracted money from the population around Bartalla, in the Nineveh Plain, through extortion, illegal arrests, and
kidnappings” and has “frequently detained people without warrants, or with fraudulent warrants.”
The fourth person sanctioned is Nawfel Akoub, the former governor of Iraq’s Nineveh province.
He was sanctioned for being responsible for, complicit in or engaged in
“corruption, including the misappropriation of state assets, the
expropriation of private assets for personal gain, corruption related to
government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, or bribery,” the Treasury Department said.
Iraq’s parliament voted to sack Akoub after an overloaded riverboat
capsized in March, leaving 100 people dead, most of them women and children.
Iraq’s anti-corruption Integrity Commission said earlier this year that
officials “close to Akoub” had embezzled a total of $64 million in public
funds.
The money included nearly $40 million set aside to rebuild Mosul, which was ravaged by more than two years of Daesh group rule followed by months of fierce fighting to retake the city from the jihadists. — NNN-AGENCIES
