Baghdad, July 12
Indian hostages detained in Mosul by militants are being moved from place to place and the Iraqi Government cannot confirm where precisely they are being held, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hussain Al Shahristani has revealed in an exclusive interview.

“It’s not only Indians being held there. There were Chinese working at a power station that was surrounded near Baiji, but we managed to rescue them. The government troops managed to advance quickly to Tikrit and Samarra from where the Chinese were rescued.

“There are a number of other businessmen who were caught in Mosul and other areas. There were some Turks — the Consul General, mission staff and some drivers — who were taken hostage. We know the Turkish Government has negotiated with them. They managed to get the drivers released, but not yet the consulate staff,” said Sharistani in a wide-ranging talk at his office in the heart of Baghdad’s heavily protected Green Zone.

On being asked why the ISIS was grabbing hostages, including Indian nurses and construction workers, who had no connection with Iraq’s internal conflicts, he said: “Many people have been held hostage by them. The ISIS ideology is — anybody who disagrees with me is an infidel and an infidel should be given a choice, either to be converted to my theology or killed.”

“In the case of the nurses, they were seen as doing some humanitarian services, they were not seen as helping the Iraqi Government, which the ISIS consider to be their arch-enemy, so they decide to release them,” said Sharistani.

“I’m not sure if they collected ransoms or not. That’s what they normally do, that’s how they fund themselves, in addition to stealing people’s properties. But, in many cases, they do ask for ransoms,” he said.

Asked to comment on earlier speculation that the 39 Indian hostages in Mosul might be used as human shields in a future ISIS attack on Baghdad, Sharistani responded, “Quite frankly – and you can quote me on this – the real fear was that they would be executed immediately, or even beheaded, because this is what they normally do with foreign hostages. In this particular case, they were held. We read in later reports that they were not mistreated, other than being kept in difficult conditions. They were not assaulted, they were not raped and they were not threatened. So our worst fear was that they would be killed. Asking for ransom is not our worst fear.”

Queried about which countries have direct contact with ISIS, Shahristani replied, “We know that some countries have relationships with them, particularly Qatar, and we know in the past in Syria – where some hostages were taken – it was through Qatar’s efforts that they managed to get those held captive released.

We wouldn’t be surprised that they can help countries whose citizens have been held hostages to find a way of dealing with it.”

Shahristani’s responses about the hostages and related events in Iraq’s unfolding crisis are among the most authoritative and up to date by a senior government minister.

About the nature of the mini army amassed by ISIS before attacking and capturing Mosul, he said, “The force that crossed the border from Syria and attacked Mosul were a few hundred. Mostly, they were Chechens, Afghans, Arabs from Saudi Arabia, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, some Syrians and Iraqis, Somalis, Yemenis and Pakistanis. But their commanders in Syria are Chechens, Saudi Arabians, Tunisians, Syrians and Iraqis.”

“The few who crossed into Iraq were joined by thousands of Ba’athists (owing their allegiance to the late Saddam Hussein), mostly from the security forces and Saddam’s private presidential guards. Now they have split, they are fighting among themselves, the Ba’athists with the ISIS. But since then we know there has been active movement across the border between Syria and Iraq and these foreign fighters come and go all the time between the two countries,” said the DeputyPM.

In Sharistani’s view the brutal punishments meted out by ISIS, including crucifixions and beheadings, constitute crimes against humanity and justify the United Nations setting up an international war crimes tribunal.

“They are crucifying people in Syria and hanging them”, Shahristani said. “A man was crucified for eight hours and when he didn’t die, he was brought down. His only crime was that he told a lie to a sharia court. For telling a lie, he was crucified for eight hours, then brought down. As for beheading children, they beheaded five small children in front of their mothers. I am not sure of their ages, but they were very small kids. Their only crime was that their father was fighting against ISIS. He was killed in the fight and the punishment for the family was to behead the children in front of their mothers.”

The Iraqi Government’s latest concern is that ISIS has managed to get control of potentially dangerous chemical materials stored in concrete silos at Al Muthanna, half-way between Samarra and Faluja. These are raw materials to produce chemical weapons that are left over from the era of Saddam Hussein.

“We all know that Saddam had chemical weapons”, Sharistani explained. He used them in Halabja (against the Kurds) and he was supposed to be dismantling the production facilities and dismantling the stocks. One of the biggest stocks was in Al Muthanna which has silos with thick concrete walls, between two and six metres thick, where some of the old chemical weapons are inside.

“I can give you a list of some of the materials that are there. Some of them were chemical weapons that were actually destroyed and were kept there. Most are shells for mortars and some artillery munitions that were loaded with these chemical weapons.

“Raw materials include KCN (this is Potassium Cyanide) and some Arsenic Oxide. There are also a number of mortar shells, but we don’t consider them too dangerous. They have to be processed before they can be used. The active chemical agents have all been destroyed.”

Asked what quantities of Potassium Cyanide and Arsenic Oxide are stored at Al Muthanna, Shahristani said, “I don’t know the exact number but it could be a few tonnes of it. They cannot really constitute danger to the population because you cannot spread them First of all Potassium Cyanide by itself is not very dangerous unless it is ingested in some quantities. But if it is treated with an acid then Hydrogen Cyanide if it’s inhaled can be serious.

“If it becomes Hydrogen Cyanide, it becomes lethal in the air. That is how chemical weapons are used. People breathe them. Potassium Cyanide, which is solid and a salt, has to be in the water or the food for people to get affected.”

The real fear was that they (Indian hostages) would be executed immediately, or even beheaded, because this is what they normally do with foreign hostages. In this particular case, they were held. We read in later reports that they were not mistreated, other than being kept in difficult conditions. They were not assaulted, they were not raped and they were not threatened. — Hussain Al Shahristani, Iraqi Deputy PM & Foreign Minister