Statements

ISCHRO Index: iraq13062007est (Public)

ISCHRO Condemns Attack on Samarra Shrine

13 June 2007 

One of Shiite Islam’s holiest shrine in Samarra was attacked for a second time.  Sunni extremists blew up the Shrine of Imam Ali al-Hadi and Imam Hasan al-Askari in Samarra at 9:00 a.m.  The same shrine was attacked in 2006 causing an outcry from the world Shiite community.

The attack occurred while the prime minister of Iraq, Nouri al-Maliki, promised the US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte to pass a controversial bill allowing former Baath party members to take official government positions as well as join the military.

Samarra is home to the historical Askariya Shrine where the 10^th and 11^th Imams of

the Shiites have been buried.  Imam Ali al-Hadi and Imam Hasan al-Askari, both descendants of Prophet Muhammad, were poisoned by the Sunni Abbasid government in the 9^th Century.  The explosion caused the destruction of the shrine’s

two minarets.  Shrines of the 11 Shiite Imams are highly respected by the Shia and are a representative of Shiite religious beliefs.  An attack on the shrines of such highly respected personalities is regarded by Shiites as an assault on their revered Imams and a disregard for their religious beliefs.

The attack on the Askariya Shrine indicates the blatant disregard for Shiite religious belief and the already well-known intention of Sunni extremist groups to target symbols of Shiite faith.  The explosion was carried out despite the presence of police on the site.  Although the Shrine belongs to the Shiites its management had been placed with Sunnis.

Shiite citizens and religious centres have been target of daily bombings in Iraq a targeted act that many call ethnic cleansing of the majority population.  This latest attack demonstrates that neither the Iraqi government nor the Bush administration have effectively dealt with the terrorist situation in Iraq and the repeated violence against Shiites and their religious sites.

The International Shia Cultural and Human Rights Organization (ISCHRO) condemns this atrocity and repeats its call to end the abuse of Shiites throughout the Middle East.  The West should begin by reassessing its position towards the Shiites both as a significant group within the world population and as a partner that has in common many peaceful ethical principles.  The only way to achieve this aim is with a unified Shiite voice.  To this end, ISCHRO is requesting that every Shiite, friends of Shiites and sympathizers with Shiites around the globe to write into the local and international media outlets, the embassies of the United States and Britain, national governments and Human Rights organizations and call for an end to the atrocities against the Shiites by Sunni extremists and Sunni dominated governments.