The bloody attack that occurred in Hawija on April 23 is being seen as part of the political, security and sectarian conflict in Iraq. This attack, however, is also a key test of the new Iraqi political system and its ability to handle security crises without abandoning democratic values and human rights principles.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a report on May 4 on the incident and cast doubt on the official version of events. HRW called for a transparent investigation into how more than 50 people were killed and 180 wounded in the raid on April 23, 2013, by the Iraqi army on a square in Hawija (180 kilometers or 112 miles north of Baghdad), where protesters were holding a sit-in.

Before the HRW report, the Iraqi public was split between two different narratives. According to Lt. Gen. Ali Ghaidan, the commander of Iraq's ground forces, "terrorists and Baathists" attacked the Iraqi army as it was raiding the square and the army opened fire in self-defense." According to the other story, told by the people in Hawija, unarmed demonstrators were fired upon by Iraqi forces.

In the report, Sarah Leah Whitson, the Middle East director at HRW, said, "The Iraqi authorities shouldn't respond to the killings in Hawija by once again failing to hold security forces responsible for unlawful killings of demonstrators. Turning a blind eye to previous abuses has helped create the violent environment that today threatens to escalate across Iraq."