Source: F2 networks
Religious leaders in the Shiite Muslim holy city of Karbala are keeping the lid on files seized from Saddam Hussein's security services because they fear vengeance could be taken against local informers. "We found a large number of files that include reports signed by informers," said Sheik Abdul Mahdi Karbalai, representative in Karbala of Sayyid Ali al-Sistani, one of the world's spiritual leaders of Shiite Muslims.
"We are leaving this issue for time to heal; there is one report that caused the execution of four members of the same family."
| If they were informers, small loss, except for the trend toward anarchy in the Shiite areas as the holy men struggle for power... |
Sheik Karbalai said that early this month the population seized files from the local security branch and many were handed over to the religious leaders of the city, 80 kilometres south-west of Baghdad. Haydar Tohmeh, manager of the Rasul Hotel, lost his father and a brother because of what he said was a fabricated denunciation that they were among those who took up arms against Saddam Hussein in the city after the 1991 Gulf War. His father and brother are on a provisional list of 414 people executed after the 1991 revolt was crushed, compiled from security services records and posted with the approval of the religious leaders a few days ago on the street leading to Karbala's holy shrines. |