The al-Abbas's (p) holy shrine recalls the crime of the era "Speicher Massacre" and honors a large group of victims' families.

A conference to recall the crime of era "Speicher massacre" was held on Friday afternoon within the activities of the Festival of the Fatwa for Defense in the Hall of Imam al-Hassan (peace be upon him) for conferences and seminars in the al-Abbas's (p) holy shrine, in the presence of a number of families of martyrs and law figures and other personalities interested in this regard.

The conference began with the recitation of verses from the Holy Quran by the reader Mohamad Abdullah, and the national anthem and the and the anthem of the al-Abbas's (p) holy shrine "Tune of Pride", then reading Surat Fatiha in memory of the martyrs of Speicher and of Iraq in general.

Followed by the word of the senior official of the al-Abbas's (p) holy shrine delivered on his behalf by Sheikh Salah al-Karbala'i head of the religious affairs department, stressing on the importance to document the Speicher crime so that it is not forgotten, as well as learn lessons from it to eliminate terrorism from societies.

Then Mr. Ali Samir Abd al-Sahib, a father of one of the martyrs, delivered a word on behalf of the victims' families. He appealed to the government to speed up the procedures of the DNA examination and to complete the excavation in the graves that were discovered to calm the hearts of the grieving mothers and so that the souls of our sons rest in peace.

This was followed by a documentary film about Speicher massacre produced by the Department of Intellectual and Cultural Affairs at al-Abbas's (p) holy shrine.

Then Mr. Fawaz Abd al-Abbas, representative of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP).

This was followed by the word of the President of the Mohammadi Ribat Council; Sayed Abd al-Qader al-Alousi, who stressed that sources of this crime and the killing in general are not only money and weapons, but by distortion of holy texts and deformation of religion, therefore there is a need to destroy the terrorism machine by spreading the correct and enlightened thought of the true Mohammadi Islam.

Followed by the word of the representative of religions, General Secretary of Council of Religious Leaders of the Christian Communities of Iraq and President of the Armenian Orthodox in Iraq; Archbishop Dr. Avak Asadourian, delivered on his behalf by the Priest Gabriel, stating that Speicher crime is shameful affront to humanity, and stressing the need to investigate the reasons behind such massacre, recalling at this occasion that Armenians are the victims of the first genocide of the twentieth century. Ending his word by praying for the victims and their families.

Then a legal session was held on the legal dimensions of the massacre, with the participation of Mr. Razzaq al-Awadi, member of the Arab Bar Association, Sheikh Dr. Yusuf al-Nasiri, expert and professor of law and human rights, professor Mahdi al-Kilabi and Judge Abdullah Dhabyan. The session began after hearing the testimony of one of the survivors of the massacre.

The preparatory committee of the conference has then issued a number of recommendations, including asking the Iraqi parliament to legislate a law that considered Speicher massacre a genocide and consider June12, as a national day to commemorate it.

The conference was concluded by a poem of poet Hamza Hussein Abbadi and then honoring the families of the victims of Speicher massacre.