Iran Press/Iran news: The Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein attacked Sardasht, in West Azerbaijan province, in northwestern Iran, with chemical weapons in 1987, making Sardasht one of the first cities in the world to be targeted by weapons of mass destruction.
On 28 and 29 June 1987, Iraqi bombers attacked four crowded districts of Sardasht with chemical bombs which engulfed its residents, women and children, young and old, bringing death on a grand scale.
The chemical attack on Sardasht left at least 110 people killed, and 5,000 others injured, many receiving serious life-threatening injuries.
The chemicals had a long-term chronic effect, and affected many of the injured people, especially children, for years to come. Even today, 32 years after the event, many residents of Sardasht are suffering from the horrid effects of a nerve-agent chemical attack, and struggling for their lives.
According to the Iranian foreign minister, the world’s inaction in relation to the 1987 chemical bombardment of Sardasht by the Ba'athist Iraqi army, gave the green light for similar horrid atrocities to take place in the years that followed.
According to the most recent research, the Baathist regime of Iraq used 6,000 chemical bombs in 242 assaults, only a small portion of which was reported in the Western media.
Sardasht Chemical Victims Society attends the photo gallery of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) at the Hague, the Netherlands, to pursue Iran’s demand to bring the case before the International Criminal Court. They also hold a ceremony every year to commemorate the victims of the tragedy.
June 28 has been designated as the International Day of Countering the Convention Prohibiting Chemical Weapons (CPCW).
Citizens of the city of Sardasht, on the anniversary of the chemical bombardment of their city, hold the United States responsible for this crime against humanity, since the US helped former dictator Saddam to acquire chemical weapons.
Sardasht chemical crime from residents' point-of-view
On the anniversary of Sardasht chemical attack, the residents of the city blame the West particularly the United States, for this tragedy and crime against humanity.
Talking to Iran Press, one of the Kurdish citizens of Sardasht said: "I, as a Sardasht chemical victim, recognize that European countries are in a way responsible for this crime because Saddam Hussein could not have carried out such a crime without European help."
Also, the director of the Society for defending victims of the Sardasht chemical attack, told Iran Press that in order to bring the case of Sardasht chemical attack before the International Criminal Court (ICC), we lodged a complaint and we proved that countries such as Germany and United States played a key role in supplying the Baathist regime with dangerous chemicals and Western countries were definitely involved in this crime.
Condemning the Western role in the attack, another chemical attack victim now working as the fastest painter in Asia told Iran Press that we, Sardashtian youth, have tried to prove to the world that we want peace and we want to make Sardasht more lively, and improve the environment. 208/211/101
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