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7 May, 2007
The ICEM has expressed shock and anger at the mid-April killing of General Federation of Iraq Workers (GFIW) Vice-President Moaaid Hamid and his wife. The two were killed in the province of Nineveh during a clash between forces of the Iraqi army and terrorist elements inside the province.
Hamid was a contributor to the founding of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions in 2003, before that trade union centre evolved into the GFIW. He had been a victim of Saddam’s regime against free and independent trade unions, and after the invasion, had been abducted and tortured by terrorists before he was freed by Iraqi security forces.
In a letter to the GFIW, the ICEM wrote, “This appalling violence, coming as it does so soon after the abduction, torture, and subsequent murder of Najim Abd-Jasem, the General Secretary of the Mechanic Workers’ Union of your Federation, strengthens our view that there is a systematic campaign to eliminate the leadership of the newly formed independent and democratic unions that strongly oppose sectarianism.”
The letter was sent by ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda on 29 April 2007.