A delegation of Egyptian actors visited the Iraqi city of Tikrit on Sunday, to commemorate the Camp Speicher massacre committed by the IS.
The delegation includes Mahmoud al-Guindi, Hanan Shawky and Wafa al-Hakim.
Iraqi poet Hussein Qasim said the Egyptian delegation, which had been invited by the Iraqi Cabinet, also includes Al-Azhar scholar Hassan al-Ganainy and Tunisian poet Mohamed al-Hady.
“This is the second visit after Tikrit was recaptured from IS,” he said.
Hanan Shawky said the Iraqis had lost many martyrs in their war against IS. “Their martyrs are ours,” she added.
“I was shocked when I saw the mass graves of that heinous crime,” Guindi said. “Iraq must be supported in its war against terrorism.”
Ganainy said he came to Iraq to show his solidarity with the Iraqi people. “We need a strong Arab solidarity to face the evil in this region,” he said. “IS should be intellectually confronted with the moderate Islam that emphasizes tolerance and coexistence between all human beings.”
“I feel for the women who lost their sons to terrorism,” said Hakim. “But Iraqi women are strong and resilient.”
The massacre of June 11, 2014 was carried out by the IS and suspected Baathists from Saddam Hussein's regime, who captured 1,700 Iraqi soldiers from Camp Speicher after storming Tikrit and Mosul, took them to the desert, shot many of them and buried some of them alive. The massacre was filmed, and the videos have been posted on the Internet.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
