Push for military to testify under oath over 2015 Hawija bombing and civilian deaths
Winnie Sorgdrager, former Dutch justice minister and chair of the independent committee investigating the 2015 airstrike on Hawija, has called for military personnel to testify under oath about the deadly bombing. Her statement follows the discovery that video footage once believed destroyed still exists and has now been viewed.
Sorgdrager said in an interview with NOS Nieuwsuur that she wants a full, independent investigation and emphasized that “all involved must be questioned.” She added, “Preferably under oath, because I want to avoid the involved parties giving ‘contradictory statements’ again. Then you still know nothing.”
The airstrike took place on June 3, 2015, when Dutch F-16 fighter jets bombed a municipal warehouse in the Iraqi city of Hawija. The site was being used by Islamic State (IS) to produce car bombs. The building contained large amounts of explosives, which triggered a massive secondary explosion.
According to Sorgdrager, the target was located in an industrial zone that was completely destroyed. The blast also heavily damaged a nearby residential area and impacted another neighborhood. In total, around 200 people were affected by the airstrike. Seventy civilians were confirmed dead.
Dutch pilots flying the F-16s reportedly witnessed the enormous explosion and suspected civilian casualties. However, no official report was made at the time. It was not until 2019 that Dutch outlets NOS and NRC revealed that at least 70 civilians had died as a result of the bombing.
Sorgdrager led a special commission that spent years investigating the Hawija bombing. She said she had long been aware that footage of the event existed and had requested access to it during the committee’s investigation. However, the commission was informed that the video had been destroyed.
Nearly a decade later, the footage has been recovered. Sorgdrager has now viewed the material, which reportedly shows the full extent of the destruction. She believes the public should also see it. “Now that so much has been said about it, I think it would be better if the images were shown to everyone,” she said.
Minister of Defense Ruben Brekelmans has called for an investigation into how the Ministry of Defense withheld crucial information, including the existence of the video. The footage will now be made available to Tweede Kamer members, but only under confidentiality.
Sorgdrager disagrees with that approach and insists that the footage should be released publicly. She also supports Brekelmans’ call for a deeper inquiry into how information was concealed, but stressed that a broad and independent investigation is essential.
“All involved must be firmly questioned to uncover the truth,” she said. “Contradictory statements are harmful to public trust in the Ministry of Defense.”
