Iraqi nationals of Syrian origins have their citizenship revoked

Crowds of Iraqis gather in front of Iraq's Passports   Iraq’s government has confiscated Iraqi passports away from 160 Iraqi families of Syrian origins living in Alanbar province on the Syrian border. Reasons for this act remain unknown, although the families affected said that families of Iranian, Pakistani and Afghani origins live in Iraq too, hinting that this must be a sectarian issue. The incident was confirmed by a judge Farhan Iftikhan in a press statement on Sunday. Iftikhan said that those families were given the Iraqi nationality tens of years ago, and that they are of tribal origins whose children work in governmental organisations such as the police, hospitals and the army. One family member whose passport was confiscated told Arabstoday that a Policeman who is a Captain in the Nationality Department in Baghdad took away his passport and nationality certificate and ripped them up, as he was there to renew his father’s passport. The Captain told him there and then that he would be confiscating his family’s passports away from them. The citizen, who asked to remain anonymous, said that: “the decision is a sectarian-related one as Iranians, Pakistanis and Afghanis were ignored; they took them from us claiming that we are of Syrian origins, bearing in mind that those families checked with Nationality Departments in Syria and they have had no record of them being Syrian.” The incident was applied to families living in Al Qada Al Qaem, in the far West of Alanbar province situated 380 Km from Al Ramadi city. 400 thousand people live in Al Qada which is the second biggest city after Fallujah. This city was responsible for the eruption of the first tribal clashes against Al Qaeda, while the first police station was established under Al Qaeda control mid 2006.