Census and Forced Relocation of Kurdish Families Labeled as “Saboteurs” – 1987

Census and Forced Relocation

In the Name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate
Confidential and Private
Public Security
Security Directorate of Erbil Governorate
No.: W.S.2/13022
Date: 11/10/1987

To: All Security Directorates of the Departments and Political Sections
Subject: Census and Deportation of Families of Saboteurs

In light of the meeting held on 6/9/1987, chaired by Comrade Ali Hassan al-Majid, Secretary of the Northern Bureau, and attended by governors and party branch officials in the northern region, the following directives are issued:

The security committees in the northern governorates are to compile a list of families of saboteurs.
Once the listing is complete, deportation of these families shall begin to areas where their saboteur relatives are located.
Males between the ages of 12 and 50 are to be detained.
Families that have martyrs, missing persons, prisoners of war, military personnel, or fighters in the National Defense Battalions are exempted from these procedures;
In such cases, only the mother may be deported along with her saboteur son.

Public seminars and administrative meetings will be held during which awareness will be raised about the importance of the general population census scheduled for October 17, 1987.

From 6/9/1987 to 17/10/1987, the return of repentant saboteurs will not be accepted unless they surrender their weapons.
After October 17, 1987, their return will not be accepted, even if they bring their weapons.

For your information and necessary action.

Director of Security
Security Directorate of Erbil Governorate

Note:
The Iraqi Ba’ath regime consistently used the terms al-mukharib (the saboteur), al-mukharibīn (the saboteurs), al-mujrim (the criminal), al-mujrimīn (the criminals), and al-mujrim al-maqbūr (the buried criminal) in its official documents to label Kurds, Peshmerga fighters, and anyone who resisted its inhumane policies or struggled for Kurdish freedom, justice, and independence. These titles—meaning “saboteur,” “criminal,” and “buried criminal”—were deliberately employed to insult, humiliate, and dehumanize the Kurdish people. This linguistic practice formed part of the regime’s psychological warfare and its ideological campaign of extermination and genocide against the Kurds.