Iraqi court reopens in E. Mosul after 3-year closure

Iraqi officials on Thursday presided over the official reopening of the Nineveh Court of Appeals in eastern Mosul after a three-year closure.

“The reopening of government institutions in Nineveh province, including the Court of Appeals, reflects Mosul’s improving security situation,” Mahdi al-Alaq, secretary-general of the Iraqi cabinet, said at the reopening ceremony, which was also attended by Nineveh Governor Nawfal al-Sultan.

“It also serves to reassure the local populace and represents a vital step toward Mosul’s total liberation,” he added.

“The next step,” al-Alaq went on to assert, “is the process of reconstruction and the return of those displaced [by the conflict] to their homes.”

Abdul Zahra al-Hindawi, a spokesman for Iraq’s Planning Ministry, told Anadolu Agency that the anticipated cost of Mosul’s reconstruction ranged from $50 billion to $100 billion over the next 10 years.

For the last nine months, the Iraqi army has fought to drive Daesh militants from Mosul, which the terrorist group overran -- along with other parts of the country -- in mid-2014.

In a related development, Iraq’s parliament on Thursday voted unanimously to designate the Euphrates area of the western Anbar province a “disaster zone” based on a request by Sunni MPs.

“The decision was taken in light of massacres committed by Daesh against the Sunni Al-Bu Nimr tribe [in Anbar province], which are considered crimes against humanity,” MP Ali al-Safi told Anadolu Agency.

Daesh reportedly executed dozens of members of the Al-Bu Nimr tribe who resisted the terrorist group before Anbar was retaken by the Iraqi army in 2015.

Parliament has already designated several other parts of the country as “disaster zones”, including the Nineveh Plains and Sinjar district, due to reported massacres of local residents or widespread destruction caused by recent conflict.