General information

Call No.:

350-4-3:65/2

Part of series

HU OSA 350-4-3 Records of the International Monitor Institute: Middle East: Iraq

Located at

BetaSP NTSC #65 / No. 2

Digital ver. identifier

HU_OSA_00009870

Date of production

1991

Date

1991

Level

Item

Primary Type

Moving image

Language

English, English, Arabic

Duration

7 min.

Content

Form/Genre

Documentary film

Contents Summary

“Iraq - Marsh Arabs and Human Rights” is a short documentary offering a view into Iraq's Southern Marshes by using some of the pre-edited footage described above. The film is centered on Dr. Al Hakim, a leading Iraqi human rights activist, who visited the Marshes in the extreme south and found evidence of an escalating military campaign against the Marsh Arabs. Living an ancient life style, the Marsh Arabs are fighting for autonomy from Baghdad—and while Iraqi rulers have historically accepted their isolation, Saddam Hussein has not. Apart from daily bombardments in the early 90s, Saddam’s army nearly completed a vast engineering project to drain the marshes and thus facilitate the entry of the Iraqi troops. On the Iranian border, thousands of refugees have fled the attacks and live in makeshift camps. Shocking pictures of the execution of three Kurds by Iraqi soldiers, soldiers ill-treating Marsh Arab prisoners, images from the refugee camps, and black and white footage of Iraqi forces attacking the Kurds in 1988, are all illustrative of the hardships faced by the Marsh Arabs in Southern Iraq.

Context

Associated Names

Journeyman Pictures (Copyright holder, Producer)