Remembering Anfal: A Genocidal Crime Against the Kurds

News 09:31 AM - 2025-04-14

A woman at a grave from the Anfal genocide.

The Anfal Campaign—also referred to as the Kurdish Genocide, Operation Anfal, or simply Anfal—was a genocidal campaign targeting the Kurdish people in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It was orchestrated by Chemical Ali (responsible for the Halabja chemical attack) and authorised by the ousted Iraqi Ba'athist President Saddam Hussein.

The campaign’s name derives from the Qur'anic surah 'al-Anfal', which the former Ba'ath regime adopted as a code name for a series of systematic assaults against the Kurdish population of northern Iraq, carried out between 1986 and 1989. In addition to the Kurds, other minority groups such as the Assyrians, Shabaks, Iraqi Turkmen, Yazidis, Jews, and Mandaeans were also targeted, with many of their villages destroyed.

The Anfal campaign has been officially recognised as genocide by Sweden, Norway, and the United Kingdom. On 5 December 2012, Sweden’s parliament, the Riksdag, passed a motion tabled by the Green Party, acknowledging the Anfal as genocide—receiving unanimous support from all 349 MPs. Following a campaign led by Conservative MP Nadhim Zahawi, the UK House of Commons officially recognised Anfal as a genocide on 28 February 2013.

One of the deadliest chapters of state-sponsored mass killing in Iraq’s history, the Anfal campaign was waged by Saddam Hussein’s totalitarian regime against the civilian Kurdish population between 22 February and 6 September 1988. The campaign mobilised the Iraqi air force, special forces, the Republican Guard, commandos, intelligence and security services, military intelligence, chemical and biological weapons departments, and various military units, including the First Corps (based in Kirkuk) and the Fifth Corps (based in Erbil).

Phases of the Anfal Campaign:

- First Anfal: Sulaymaniyah – siege of Sargallu (22 February – 19 March 1988)  
- Second Anfal: Qardagh, Bazian and Darbandikhan regions (22 March – 1 April 1988)  
- Third Anfal: Garmian region including Kalar, Bawnur, Kufri, Douz, Sengaw, Qadir Karam (20 April 1988)  
- Fourth Anfal: Small Zab plain – including Koya, Taq Taq, Aghjeler, and Nawshwan (3–8 May 1988)  
- Fifth, Sixth, Seventh Anfal: Areas surrounding Shaqlawa and Rawanduz (15 May – 26 August 1988)  
- Eighth Anfal: Badinan region – including Amedi, Akre, Zakho, Sheikhan, and Duhok (25 August – 6 September 1988)

By all internationally accepted definitions, the Anfal was a systematic campaign of mass murder, ethnic cleansing, and genocide. The clear objective was to dismantle the Kurdish community’s defensive capacity and destroy their settlements—marking the initial phase of a broader strategy aimed at eradicating the Kurdish presence in the region.

The eight stages of the Anfal operation resulted in the deaths of over 182,000 innocent Kurdish civilians. The campaign commenced in Sulaymaniyah on 22 February 1988 and concluded in the Badinan region on 6 September 1988. A wide range of banned chemical weapons—including mustard gas, cyanide, nerve agents, and phosphorus—were deployed, and many victims were buried alive in mass graves, many of which continue to be unearthed across Iraq to this day.

The Anfal campaign flagrantly violated all international norms and standards concerning war crimes and crimes against humanity. This was clearly stated in reports by international human rights monitoring bodies. The case was submitted to the Iraqi Supreme Criminal Court, and on 21 August 2006, legal proceedings began in Baghdad. The court ultimately declared the Anfal crimes to be genocide.

While hundreds were implicated in the Anfal file, only a handful of key perpetrators were formally investigated and brought to justice:

- Saddam Hussein, former President of Iraq  
- Ali Hassan al-Majid ("Chemical Ali"), Secretary of the Ba'ath Party's Northern Bureau  
- Sultan Hashem, Army Commander  
- Saber Abdul Aziz al-Douri, Director of Military Intelligence  
- Hussein Rashid al-Tikriti, Deputy in charge of Anfal operations  
- Taher Tawfiq al-Ani, Governor of Nineveh  
- Farhan Mutlaq al-Jubouri, military intelligence official in northern Iraq  

Sentencing in the Anfal Case – 24 June 2007

The Iraqi High Criminal Court delivered the following verdicts:

1. Ali Hassan al-Majid: Sentenced to death by hanging after being found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity. The presiding judge, Muhammad al-Araibi al-Khalifah, stated that al-Majid had implemented the Ba'ath Party’s genocidal policies and authorised widespread chemical attacks that killed thousands of Kurdish civilians.

2. Sultan Hashem Ahmed al-Tai, former Minister of Defence: Death by hanging.

3. Hussein Rashid al-Tikriti, Deputy Chief of Staff: Death by hanging.

4. Aber Abdul Aziz al-Douri, Director of Military Intelligence: Life imprisonment.

5. Farhan Mutlaq al-Jubouri, military intelligence officer: Life imprisonment for participation in genocide planning.

6. Taher Tawfiq al-Ani, former governor of Nineveh: Charges were dismissed due to lack of evidence.