"I tried three times to flee the city and was forced to go back," the father of six said. Islamic State "militants captured me with a few men and humiliated us. They said to us, ‘You are women. You want to run away.’”
Al-Dulaimi and his family eventually escaped to Iraqi forces who have been clearing hundreds of improvised exploding devices from the roads since the battle to regain control of the embattled city began two weeks ago.
He is arguably lucky. The Islamic State not only harasses Fallujah residents like al-Dulaimi who try to flee, but the group, also known as ISIL or ISIS, also executes people deemed deserters, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council. Many Iraqis were shot as they attempted to flee across the Euphrates River, the council said.
“Our biggest fears are confirmed: Armed groups directly target civilians fleeing,” the council said in a statement.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said eyewitnesses report that armed groups operating in support of Iraqi security forces have detained men and teenage boys leaving Fallujah in a manner that “degenerates” into abuse. He was referring to Shiite militias helping Iraqi troops liberate the predominantly Sunni city.
“There are extremely distressing, credible reports that some people who survive the terrifying experience of escaping from ISIL, then face severe physical abuse once they reach the other side,” he said Tuesday in a statement.
The warning recalled Amnesty International’s allegations last month that Iraqi forces were holding more than 1,000 detainees, often without charges, in horrible conditions in Anbar province, where Fallujah is located. The detainees were from towns liberated from the Islamic State in recent months. Iraqi forces have expressed fears that Islamic State fighters might shave their beards and attempt to escape the city with the refugees.
“The government must show its commitment to protecting civilians by fully investigating reports that people who have suffered 2½ years of living hell under ISIL and have faced enormous difficulties and dangers getting out of Fallujah alive, are now facing double jeopardy in the form of serious human rights violations after they have escaped,” al-Hussein said.
For most Fallujah residents, the desire to flee overcame fears of what might lie outside the city.
Life in Fallujah was always difficult under the Islamic State, which conquered the city in January 2014 and imposed its harsh interpretation of Islam. al-Dulaimi said.
But as Iraqi forces began to encircle and penetrate the city two weeks ago, the estimated 50,000 civilians who remain find themselves trapped by the militants who are becoming increasingly harsh.
The Islamic State provides rations to civilians, but al-Dulaimi noted that people must conform to the group's dress codes or they won't be given food.
“You have to get up at 5 in the morning and stand in line forever to pay 5,000 dinars ($4.25) for a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of tomatoes,” he said. “I can’t even go myself. I have to send someone, because you need to have a long beard and a short dishdasha," or robe worn by devout Muslims.
Medicine and other drugs are absent from the city, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council. As a result, doctors must amputate limbs without an anesthetic. Clean water is rare, since the Euphrates is polluted with corpses and chemicals from bombs and machinery. Sugar, rice, baby formula and other staples have been unavailable for months.
Around 10,000 people have sought shelter in U.N. refugee camps in Anbar province, the organization said. They join around 60,000 already in camps near Fallujah.
“The joint U.N. mission found people sheltering in tents or huddled in whatever shade they could find to escape the searing heat and blowing dust,” the U.N. said in a statement. “Most people fled with just their clothes.”
Still, Abo Ammar Mohammed, 24, who fled to Irbil, Iraq, said most of his family on the outskirts of Fallujah managed to get out and are currently in refugee camps.
"They are facing difficult living conditions," he said. "But still, it's much better than under the siege of the Islamic State."
By: Ammar Al Shamary (USA Today, Iraq).
Contributing: Gilgamesh Nabeel (Istanbul).
Photo: UN.
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