Iraq’s Minister of Justice on Tuesday approved recommendations from a committee focused on addressing past injustices faced by the Feyli Kurds, whose lands and homes were confiscated by the former regime before 2003.

Khaled Shwani issued a directive for all ministry institutions to provide the committee with data on employees from the Feyli Kurds and to liaise with the Ministry of Finance's State Real Estate Department.

The department is to supply the Real Estate Registration Department with information on properties confiscated and seized before 2003, to identify properties belonging to the Feyli Kurds.

Shwani also instructed the establishment of a unit within the Citizens Affairs Department to handle and follow up on requests submitted by the Feyli Kurds.

He further directed the Media and Government Communication Department to inform the Citizens Affairs Department about receiving requests from the Feyli Kurds regarding their properties that were seized or confiscated before 2003, ensuring their rights and justice as stipulated by the constitution.

Shwani emphasized that “this initiative is to ensure the rights of the Feyli Kurds and provide them justice as stated in the constitution.”

The Feyli Kurds, once a prominent part of Iraq's urban elite, faced severe persecution following the rise of the Baath Party in 1968. Accused of supporting the Kurdish Nationalist Liberation Movement, they were subjected to systematic exclusion and deportation.

Beginning in 1969, over 70,000 Feylis were deported to Iran under claims of non-Iraqi origins, and many were removed from state institutions and professional sectors.

The oppression escalated in 1980 with Saddam Hussein's Decree 666, which revoked the citizenship of 360,000 Feylis, confiscated their properties, and led to mass deportations. Over 15,000 Feylis disappeared, either killed or lost in the country’s many prisons.

In 2011, the Iraqi Parliament recognized these events as genocide. Efforts to address the injustices began in 2019, focusing on property rights and public employment.

However, the Feylis still struggle with legal and political challenges, exacerbated by ongoing disputes between Iraq's central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).