ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq arrested 135 people suspected of having links to the banned Baath party in a nationwide campaign on Thursday, a national security official said.
"In an operation carried out by the National Security Service (INSS) on Thursday, 135 suspects charged with membership or promoting the Baath party were arrested," INSS spokesperson Arshad Hakim told Rudaw.
The operation included raids in 14 provinces and was based on intelligence gathered from interrogations of jailed leaders of the former regime.
Hakim accused Baath-linked networks of seeking to “attract the youth to establish secret groups and make websites on social media platforms. They had tried to make use of crowds and rallies to take group photographs to show they are large in number."
Support for the Baath Party in Iraq was banned in a law that came into force on July 30, 2016 and criminalized membership in, and promotion of, the party, as well as any similar groups or ideologies.
"The operation continues to track down all those involved in this matter, some of whom are run by wanted fugitives from outside Iraq, most of whose activities were through social networks, whether for recruitment or propaganda," Hakim said.
The arrests come less than a month before Iraq’s parliamentary elections, which has seen the disqualification of hundreds of candidates on charges linked to the Baath party.
In late July, the INSS arrested another 40 people suspected of spreading Baathist ideology and planning sabotage attacks.
The Arab Socialist Baath Party ruled Iraq from 1968 until it was toppled in 2003 by a United States-led invasion that removed its leader, Saddam Hussein. The party has been banned under the Iraqi constitution, which outlaws adopting, glorifying, or promoting the symbols and propaganda of the former regime.
Hussein’s oppressive regime was responsible for numerous crimes against humanity, including the Anfal genocide against the Kurds. The campaign reached its deadliest point in 1988 with the Halabja chemical attack that killed around 5,000 people and injured 10,000 more.
Hussein was executed in 2006 after he was sentenced to death for the killing of 148 Shiites. His trial on charges related to the Anfal genocide was still ongoing at the time of his execution.
