In June 2014, Daesh militants massacred over 1,500 Iraqi soldiers near Camp Speicher, a former US military base outside Tikrit. The horrific event was recorded on video and uploaded to the Internet. Unfortunately for the families of the victims, only 400 bodies have been found, buried in mass graves discovered by Iraqi forces after they retook the city in April.
Iraqi authorities are now set to begin the trial of a second group of suspected perpetrators. According to Al Jazeera, there are 600 individuals wanted in connection to the massacre, but only 24 have ever been convicted.
In July, 24 men were sentenced to death by hanging by and Iraqi court for their alleged involvement in the massacre, while four others were acquitted. Human Rights Watch condemned the proceedings, stating that, “Baghdad’s Central Criminal Court sentenced the 24 at the end of a patently unfair trial that lasted only two hours and denied the defense the right to present witnesses and evidence.”
Reports suggest that the 24 men had pleaded not guilty, and claimed that they had been tortured into confessing.
The case of the 36 men now on trial for allegedly being involved in the massacre has been rushed, according to human rights groups.
