bild
A tied, decomposed body is seen at the site of a mass grave that was discovered on the outskirts of Hamam al-Alil, Iraq on November 12, 2016. Iraqi security forces retaking territory from the Islamic State uncovered mass graves on a despairingly regular basis, the largest of which was in Hamam al-Alil, an old spa resort town. Many of the mass graves recently found contain the bodies of local men, most of whom were former members of the security forces who were executed only in recent weeks, after the campaign for Mosul began. The legacy of the mass grave in Iraq is long, stretching back further than the Islamic State to the times of Saddam Hussein's industrial-scale killings. It is the horrible symbol of what has been for decades a gut-wrenching constant of Iraqi life: the disappearance of loved ones into the machinery of despotism. (Sergey Ponomarev, for The New York Times) NO SALES, THIS MATERIAL IS FOR SINGLE USE PUBLICATIONS IN PRINT OR FOR A TEMPORARY ONLINE PUBLICATION, AND MAY BE USED EXCLUSIVELY TO PUBLICIZE THE 2017 WORLD PRESS CONTEST AND EXHIBITION. IT MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED AS PART OF AN ARTICLE OR ANY OTHER ITEM THAT CONTAINS NO DIRECT LINK TO WORLD PRESS PHOTO AND ITS ACTIVITIES. THE PICTURE MAY NOT BE CROPPED OR MANIPULATED IN ANY WAY. KEYSTONE PROVIDES ACCESS TO THIS PUBLICLY DISTRIBUTED HANDOUT PHOTO. THE COPYRIGHT IS OWNED BY A THIRD PARTY.