| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"~Harry Hope" |
| Date: |
02 Aug 2005 05:14:44 PM |
| Object: |
"What, me worry?" |
Genocide and Human Rights Violations in the Southern Provinces of Iraq after
the popular uprising of 1991
Dr. Walid Al- Hilli
General Secretary of Iraqi Human Rights Group (IRAG)
P.O.BOX 2068, LONDON NW10 1JN
Abstract
UN Human Rights rapporteur Max Van der Stoel said that violations of human
rights by the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein are among of the worst since
World War II. The forces of Saddam Hussein's regime began their brutal
campaign to suppress the Southern provinces uprising in the first week of
March 1991. These forces committed with intent to destroy and kill those who
contributed in the uprising. They committed genocide in Iraq by grossly
violating and abusing human rights and causing serious bodily and mental
harm.
They practiced the following: Arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture and
other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment, arbitrary executions, and
enforced or involuntary disappearances. Mass execution and tortures of all
who
joined, or were suspected to have supported the popular uprising of the
first
of March 1991. At least 200,000 Iraqis were killed or executed during and
after the 1991 uprising. The rate of killing and execution was 2000 persons
per day in April and May 1991 and this rate decreased to 1000 persons per
day
in June and July 1991. The regime killed 5000 combatants when entering
Kerbala
city in March 1991. 111 religious scholars were arrested, tortured or
executed. The fates of tens of them are still unknown. The number of Holy
shrines and Mosques, which were bombarded and damaged in Najaf and Kerbala
cities, were more than 141. Hundreds thousands of Iraqis escaped Iraq after
the suppression of the uprising during the last 11 years
Introduction
The Iraqi people expressed their freedom after the end of Gulf War, when the
Iraqi security, which is responsible for imposing a tight grip on the
people,
infrastructure paralysed. The people went to the street starting their one
of
the biggest uprising in the recent history of Iraq on 15 Shaaban 1411H- 1
March 1991. The uprising started in Naseryya city and then in Basra city.
Thus
extended to a total of 14 province (out of 18) that included more than 100
towns from southern to Northern part of Iraq. The uprising continued across
Iraqi cities for up to one month.
Genocide and violation of Human Rights Record in the popular uprising (March
1991) of the Southern provinces of Iraq
The forces of Saddam Hussein's regime practiced the following Genocide and
violation of Human Rights after the Southern provinces uprising in the first
week of March 1991:
1- The regime committed with intent to destroy, supress and kill those who
contributed in the uprising. They committed genocide in Iraq by grossly
violating and abusing human rights and causing serious bodily and mental
harm.
2- Arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture and other cruel, inhumane or
degrading treatment.
3- Arbitrary executions
4- Enforced or involuntary disappearances.
5- Mass execution and tortures of all who joined, or were suspected to have
supported the popular uprising of the first of March 1991.
6- Imprisonments of more than one million Iraqi citizens in more than 300
prisons and detention centres in the last 11 years were carried out.
7- Chemical and poisonous gas weapons in addition to sophisticated weapons
were used against the Shias in southern Iraq and in the Holy cities of Najaf
and Kerbala, where civilians were injured or died.
8- Hostages were taken and used as human shields. Furthermore, Saddam's army
tied children and women to their tanks when invading towns and cities.
9- Saddam Hussein also obliterated complete tribes and villages, together
with
their inhabitants.
10- Marshes in southern Iraq were destroyed or demolished. 70,000 persons
were
killed or forced to go to other places.
11- In an attempt to break up families and tribes and to destroy ethnic and
religious ties, the government has relocated thousands of people from the
North of Iraq to south of Iraq and vice versa.
12- Racial prejudices of the regime against the people who contributed in
the
uprising.
13- Repression and oppression of Shia which is sustained by broad-based
discrimination and widespread terror.
14- Destruction of Holy shrines Mosques, libraries and cemeteries.
15-
Witness of the Violations committed during the 1991 Uprising and Aftermath
1- Middle East Watch - August 1993, Vol. 5, Issue 5 , IRAQ:
Background on Human Rights Conditions, 1984-1992
In March 1991, the brutal suppression of the Kurdish and Shi'a uprising was
coupled with attacks on fleeing civilians. After the uprising was crushed,
the
Iraqi military carried out almost-continuous operations against
anti-government rebels based in the vast southeast marshlands during 1992
and
early 1993 at the expense of the indigenous civilian population which
suffered
from indiscriminate attacks and other violations of humanitarian law.
Elsewhere, Middle East Watch found that the regime's mechanisms of control
during 1991 and 1992 included: house-to-house searches; arbitrary arrests
often in large numbers; surveillance; harassment and questioning of family
members; detention of targeted individuals, such as those returning to Iraq
pursuant to amnesties, at unknown locations; and the continued use of
torture
prior to and during interrogation.
Bassem, interviewed by Middle East Watch, estimated that approximately
50,000
people had been rounded up in these post-uprising arrests, and that many of
them were brought to Baghdad and detained. He told Middle East Watch that
most
of the detainees held with him were removed in groups of ten for
interrogation
and torture by one officer and five soldiers in all-day sessions that
typically lasted from 7:00 am to 4:00 pm. He said that some detainees died
in
detention, and that those suspected of involvement in the uprising were
moved
to other locations:
In the thirteen days that I was there, I heard that a lot of prisoners had
died under torture. I personally saw two men being brought out dead. The
dead
were taken away in municipal sanitation trucks. If you made the mistake of
giving yourself away, you were interrogated again. If you could hold up, you
were released. Those who were suspected of participating in the intifada
were
taken away to unknown locations.
The Iraqi government reported that security forces had arrested 15,105
people
for participating in the post-war uprisings (Interim Report on the Situation
of Human Rights in Iraq prepared by Special Rapporteur Max van der Stoel,
U.N.
General Assembly, A/46/647, Nov. 13, 1991). The U.S. State Department
reported
that mass arrests "were a common Iraqi tactic in repressing the popular
uprising in March and April [1991]." The State Department noted, for
example,
that "thousands" were arrested in southern cities, and that similar
campaigns
were carried out in the north, with over 5,000 men arrested in the city of
Kirkuk in March 1991. (Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1991,
U.S. Department of State, February 1992, p. 1421) According to the Committee
for the Defense of Human Rights in Iraq, Radwaniyya prison held 30,000
people
who had been arrested in the Thawra section of Baghdad during the March 1991
uprising.
Jassem said that the room in which he was held was very crowded, with only
forty to fifty centimetres of space for each detainee. The men were give one
small hard piece of brown bread daily. There were no windows in the room;
only
a tiny bit of light came in through the roof. Three to four small bowls
containing "something that looked like rice" were provided twice daily for
all
100 men to share. A small can in the corner of the room served as a toilet.
The detainees were allowed to leave the room only once a day, twenty at a
time; only one minute was allowed for all twenty men to use the toilet. "It
was a very dirty place," Jassem remembered. When the detainees left the
toilet, soldiers would hose them down, and the men "would scramble for the
water." Then they had to stand for a count, and finally were returned to
their
room.
2- 1991 uprising\Iraq - USIA News Report
UN Human Rights rapporteur Max Van der Stoel said that violations of human
rights by the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein are among of the worst since
World War II, comparable in gravity to the crimes of the Khmer Rouge in
Cambodia or Idi Amin in Uganda, an intolerable situation. Van der Stoel, who
reported to the United Nations on the human rights situation in Iraq, told
reporters at the National Press Club that the Iraqi regime's reign of terror
"is an intolerable situation" and "the people in power are ruthless."
He said the whole picture "is even more horrifying because the regime does
not
focus its reprisals on 'saboteurs,' but entire families."
He said all segments of the Iraqi population are suffering -- not only
Kurds,
but Syrians, Turkomen, and especially the Shia clergy. "We have to be
worried
about it," he said.
Van der Stoel said 17,000 Iraqi disappearances have been reported, usually
after arrest by the secret police. He added, however, "I am quite certain we
have to speak in terms of many tens of thousands," because families of the
missing, both inside and outside, often do not report disappearances,
fearing
reprisal.
The United Nations Security Council created a special commission on human
rights in Iraq in March 1991 and requested its chairman to appoint a special
rapporteur to make "a thorough study of the violations of human rights by
the
government of Iraq."
Van der Stoel said the commission's special report submitted to the U.N.
secretary general on February 18 is based on exhaustive investigations,
including interviews of Iraqis living in refugee camps in Saudi Arabia,
exiles
in Iran and Europe as well as written documents, video and audio tapes, and
personal interviews with Iraqi officials.
In the end, "all evidence pointed in the same direction...what comes forth
is
that no method has been spared by the Iraqi government to break any possible
resistance."
He said forms of torture include electric shock, severe beatings to the
point
of permanently crippling, chemical attacks, and incarceration. "Many, many
people with whom I spoke still carry the evidence of torture," he said. "I
mention this because of how serious the situation is, and how necessary it
is
to take these unusual measures."
He said the report takes an unusual turn in recommending that the United
Nations appoint a number of human rights monitors to visit various places of
detention, in the hope of deterring further persecutions by the regime.
Van der Stoel said the regime of Saddam Hussein "is one of the most
authoritarian since World War II," and that makes him pessimistic about
chances for any future change of the regime.
"Torture is inherent to the character of the regime...which is completely
dominated by Saddam Hussein," Van der Stoel stressed.
Evidence that this is an operating philosophy, he said, can be seen in the
almost total absence of Shia clergy on the village streets of Iraq. "There
were 10,000 clerics last Spring, before the uprising in Iraq; barely 800
after; and now hardly any can be seen anywhere."
3- Commission on Human Rights resolution 1991/74- Situation of human rights
in
Iraq
1. Expresses grave concern at the flagrant violations of human rights by the
Government of Iraq;
2. Urges the Government of Iraq to ensure full respect for human rights and
fundamental freedoms
and, in particular:
(a) To halt the arbitrary and summary executions as well as the arbitrary
detention of political and
religious opponents;
(b) To put an end to the practices of enforced or involuntary disappearances
and the practice of
torture;
(c) To guarantee full respect for human rights of all persons in Iraq
irrespective of their origin, halt
deportation of Iraqi citizens and allow the deported persons to return to
their villages of origin and
receive reparation for the damage suffered as a result of their forced
displacement;
3. Calls upon the Government of Iraq to abide by its obligations under the
International Covenants
on Human Rights;
4. Urges the Government of Iraq to cooperate with the Commission on Human
Rights and, in
particular, to help clarify the pending cases of enforced or involuntary
disappearances noted in the
report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and to
communicate to
the Commission any new measures the Government of Iraq may take in the field
of human rights.
4- Commission on Human Rights resolution 1993/74- Situation of human rights
in
Iraq
Deeply concerned by the continued massive and grave violations of human
rights
by the Government of Iraq, such as summary and arbitrary executions, torture
and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, enforced or involuntary
disappearances, arbitrary arrests and detentions, lack of due process and
the
rule of law and of freedom of thought, of expression and of association, as
well as of the existence of specific and serious . discrimination within the
country in terms of access to food and health care,
Deeply concerned also that the severe and grave violations of human rights
by
the Government of Iraq have led to a deterioration of the situation of the
civilian population in southern Iraq, in particular in the southern marshes,
1. Takes note with appreciation of the report on the situation of human
rights
in Iraq submitted by the Special Rapporteur (E/CN.4/1993/45) and the
conclusions and recommendations contained therein;
2. Expresses its strong condemnation of the massive violations of human
rights, of the gravest nature, for which the Government of Iraq is
responsible, resulting in an all-pervasive order of repression and
oppression
which is sustained by broad-based discrimination and widespread terror, in
particular:
(a) Summary and arbitrary executions, orchestrated mass executions and mass
graves throughout Iraq, extrajudicial killings, including political
killings,
in particular in the northern region of Iraq, in southern Shiah centres and
in
the southern marsh area;
(b) The widespread routine practice of systematic torture in its most cruel
forms;
(c) Enforced or involuntary disappearances, routinely practised arbitrary
arrests and detention, including of women, the elderly and children, and
consistent and routine failure to respect due process and the rule of law;
(d) Suppression of freedom of thought, expression and association and
violations of property rights;
(e) The unwillingness of the Government of Iraq to honour its
responsibilities
in respect of the economic rights of the population;
5- Amnesty International- Iraq - report on 14/08/97
At the end of the 1990-1991 Gulf war, and following the March 1991 uprising
by
Arab Shi'a Muslims in the south and by Kurds in the north, serious human
rights violations were reported, including "disappearances" and
extrajudicial
executions. The fate and whereabouts of 106 Shi'a Muslim clerics and
students
remain unknown [4]. It is believed that around 12,000 people arrested in
connection with the 1991 uprising continue to be detained in al-Radwaniyya
garrison, south-west of Baghdad. Amnesty International has appealed on
numerous occasions to the Iraqi Government to clarify the fate of the Shi'a
clerics and students but has received no response. During the same period,
when the Iraqi forces pulled out of Kuwait, more than 600 Kuwaiti and other
nationals were arrested and taken to Iraq. Despite international pressure
nothing has been heard of them. The sole exception is Nadia Muhammad
al-'Anaizi, a Kuwaiti woman, believed to be one of those arrested in Kuwait
and taken to Iraq, who was released by the Iraqi authorities in May 1996.
"Disappearances": Unresolved cases since the early 1980s
III. Extrajudicial executions and mass killings
In spite of the difficulty of investigating extrajudicial executions and
mass
killings in Iraq, it is estimated that hundreds of thousands of people have
been the victims of such killings since the 1980s. Various methods have been
used, including the use of chemical weapons; mass executions by firing
squad;
burying people alive or tying heavy weights to their feet and pushing them
into rivers; poisoning with thallium and other toxic substances; and
''accidental deaths'' supposedly occurring in rigged car accidents or
helicopter crashes. In addition, thousands of people have died in custody
apparently as a result of torture or in unclear circumstances.
Since the March 1991 uprising, when government forces temporarily lost
control
of major cities and towns in northern and southern Iraq, additional
information has come to light about the scale of atrocities committed in
previous years. Another source of information has been the series of mass
graves discovered in northern Iraq, where the absence of government forces
enabled some international human rights organizations to investigate the
graves. For example, one mass grave on the outskirts of the Kurdish town of
Arbil contained the remains of 107 Kurdish villagers killed in 1987. Amnesty
International had reported in 1988 that they were said to have been
executed.
Hundreds of people were extrajudicially executed by government forces in the
wake of the March 1991 uprising. Among the victims in the north were Kurdish
women and children, who were shot from helicopter gunships as they fled
towards Iraq's borders. At least 28 Kurds arrested in Kirkuk in March 1991
were said to have been extrajudicially executed. They included Ibrahim Qader
Taha, who was shot by Republican Guards on 18 March. In April 1991, 40
civilians were reportedly burned to death by government forces in 'Arbat
village, near Sulaimaniya.
On 16 March 1991, around 150 men and boys from the Shi'a community were shot
dead at al-Mahawil Garrison, near al-Hilla in southern Iraq. Others were
reportedly thrown to their death from the top floor of al-Hilla Hospital on
9
March 1991, or pushed into the Tigris River and Shat al-'Arab waterway with
weights tied to their feet. Victims' bodies were said to have been dragged
through the streets or left hanging from electricity pylons to terrorize the
local population.
In April 1992, President Saddam Hussain stated publicly that Shi'a Muslims
who
participated in the March 1991 uprising in the south should be
machine-gunned
for treason. Before the imposition of the southern ''air exclusion zone'' by
United States, British and French forces in August 1992, government forces
repeatedly launched military attacks on the marshes region in the south
using
helicopter gunships and fighter aircraft. In one incident, in May 1992, 13
civilians, including women and children, were reportedly killed after
helicopter gunships attacked a wedding ceremony in the village of al-Agir in
al-'Amara province. Scores of others were killed in similar attacks in the
same province in July and August 1992.
In 1993, several hundred civilians, including women and children, were
reportedly killed or injured during attacks by government forces on civilian
targets in the southern marshes. Through these attacks, the government was
seeking to secure control of the vast marshlands area located between Basra,
al-'Amara and al-Nasiriya, which has traditionally served as a hiding place
for government opponents and army deserters. It is estimated that by the end
of 1993 up to 8,000 people had fled the southern marshes as a result of the
military attacks on villages, the draining of large stretches of marshland
and
the destruction of the local community. Military and special forces
continued
their deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on civilian targets in the
southern marshes region during 1994. Armed government opponents were
reportedly shot dead after capture. Among them were Faleh al-Bazzuni and
'Adnan Khashan, who were arrested following an attack on Umm al-Juwaish near
al-Madaina in March 1994.
In April 1994, a prominent Iraqi government opponent, Shaikh Talib al-Suhail
al-Tamimi was shot dead in Beirut. The Lebanese authorities arrested two
Iraqi
diplomats said to have been implicated in the killing; they reportedly
confessed to working for Iraqi intelligence. However, the Lebanese
authorities
released them without trial in 1997 on account of their diplomatic status.
Several cases of thallium poisoning were also reported in 1994 and 1995. The
poison was believed to have been administered to the victims by Iraqi
government agents operating in Kurdish-controlled territory. Among the
victims
were Shaikh Faisal al-Sha'lan and 'Abd al-Amir Shahin, who were both
poisoned
in January 1995 in Shaqlawa, and 'Abdullah al-Shubbar, who died from
poisoning
in March 1995 in Shaqlawa. All three were involved in opposition activities
within the Iraqi National Congress. In August 1995, several other suspected
opponents, including members of the Supreme Council for the Islamic
Revolution
in Iraq and some armed opposition Pesh Merga fighters, were poisoned in
Sulaimaniya Province; among them was Muhammad Sati al-Anbaki.
In February 1996, Lieutenant-General Hussain Kamel al-Majid and his brother
Lieutenant-Colonel Saddam Kamel, both sons-in-law of President Saddam
Husssain, who had defected to Jordan in August 1995, were killed within days
of their return to Iraq after reportedly being pardoned. Their father, a
brother and three other relatives were also killed. The government announced
that the killings constituted an act of revenge by other members of al-Majid
family, but it was widely believed that the killings had been carried out
with
the acquiescence of the President. There was no investigation into these
killings and no one was brought to justice.
At the end of August 1996, Iraqi government forces entered Arbil, in
conjunction with the forces of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, taking
control
of the city and ousting the forces of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. It
is
estimated that at least 96 members of the opposition Iraqi National Congress
and four members of the Iraqi National Turkman Party were extrajudicially
executed by government forces following their capture in Qoshtapa, near
Arbil.
Among the victims were Lieutenant Ra'd 'Umar al-Khalidi and Fahd Muhammad
Sultan. Hundreds of suspected governments opponents and their families were
also arrested in Arbil at the time, and then transferred to prisons and
detention centres in government-controlled areas; but their fate and
whereabouts remain unknown. They included members of the INC, suspected
members of Turkman and Islamist parties, and other non-Kurdish political
opponents.
Article 7: Torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
I. Torture and ill-treatment
The routine and systematic use of torture in Iraqi prisons and detention
centres has been well documented over the years. Amnesty International
continues to receive reports that detainees and prisoners, including minors
and women, are subjected to the most brutal forms of torture before being
executed. In some cases, the bodies of the victims have been returned to
their
families with evident signs of torture. Badly mutilated bodies have also
been
dumped in the street outside the victims' homes. It has been reported that
some of the political detainees who have ''disappeared'' since their arrest,
or who have been reported by the authorities to have been executed for
political offences, have actually died as a result of torture before any
alleged trial.
For example, a large number of those arrested following the March 1991
uprising were tortured. Torture methods reportedly used included severe
beatings with truncheons and rubber hoses, breaking of limbs, burning of the
skin, electric shocks to the tongue and genitals, suspension from a rotating
fan, prolonged isolation, deprivation of food and water for several days,
mock
executions, threats of dismemberment, and sexual abuse.
According to eyewitnesses, some detainees were mutilated before execution by
having their eyes gouged out, their limbs severed or by being doused with
petrol and set alight. On 21 March 1991, the mutilated body of Falah Bilal,
a
Shi'a Arab was found outside al-Najaf: his tongue, ears and left hand had
apparently been severed before he was executed. A former soldier who was
imprisoned for 26 days in Abu al-Khasib, near Basra, described to Amnesty
International how he had been subjected to electric shocks and had suffered
a
broken wrist as a result of beatings. He also said that other detainees had
been deprived of food and water, and had been forced to drink urine to
survive, and that he witnessed 100 executions at the prison.
In October 1992, arbitrary and widespread arrests of unarmed civilians were
carried out by the military and security in al-'Amara, as part of what the
government called a ''punitive campaign'' against the Shi'a Muslim
population
in the south. Most were held at the 4th Army corps' headquarters, where they
were reportedly tortured. Two Shi'a Muslims released from al-Radwaniya
garrison, southwest of Baghdad, stated that they had been repeatedly beaten
and subjected to electric shocks during their four months' detention. They
also stated that a fellow detainee died from severe burns after being tied
to
skewer-like device and ''roasted'' over a flame.
In 1993, a Shi'a Muslim testified that while being detained for several days
in al-Radwaniya he was suspended by an arm and a leg from the ceiling, given
electric shocks to his genitals, beaten with cables and burned with
cigarettes. He was released after paying 30,000 Iraqi dinars. He also said
that, while he was in al-Radwaniya, two fellow detainees died as a result of
torture. In an another case, a Shi'a Muslim peasant was beaten with cables
and
given electric shocks while in detention in al-'Amara in April 1993. He was
then transferred to al-Radwaniya where several detainees allegedly suffered
critical burns after being pushed into a fire during interrogation.
In 1994, seven Ba'thist government opponents detained since 1993 died in
custody. It was not clear whether they died under torture or were tortured
and
then executed. Among them were Muhammad 'Abd al-Ta'i from Diyala, Muhammad
Aiyub al-Dulaimi form Mosul and Walid Shakir al-'Ubaidi from Baghdad. Their
bodies were returned to their families, in August and September 1994,
reportedly disfigured by torture. The eyes of six of the victims had
allegedly
been gouged out. Among the detainees who were said to have died as a result
of
torture shortly after their arrest was Karim al-Jihari, who was arrested in
April 1994 in Misan Governorate during a wave of arbitrary arrests in the
south.
II. Judicial punishments amounting to torture or to cruel, inhuman or
degrading punishments
In 1994, the RCC introduced a series of decrees prescribing punishments
amounting to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishments for at
least 30 criminal offences. These punishments consisted of the amputation of
the right hand for a first offence, and of the left foot for a second
offence,
or the severance of one or both ears. People convicted under these decrees
were also branded with an ''X'' mark on the forehead. These punishments were
apparently introduced in response to the rising crime rate resulting from
worsening economic conditions in Iraq. The enactment and implementation of
these decrees patently contravene Iraq's obligation as a state party to the
ICCPR, Article 7 of which states that ''no one shall be subjected to torture
or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment''. Moreover,
Article
4 of the ICCPR, which allows derogation from some obligations, does not
allow
derogation from Article 7 under any circumstances even in '' time of public
emergency which threatens the life of the nation and the existence of which
is
officially proclaimed''.
In its General Comment 20, the Human Rights Committee stated with regard to
Article 7 of the ICCPR that ''the prohibition must extend to corporal
punishment, including excessive chastisement ordered as punishment for a
crime
or as an educative or disciplinary measure.''(8) The UN Special Rapporteur
on
torture noted in his 1997 report to the Commission on Human Rights that
''corporal punishment is inconsistent with the prohibition of torture and
other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment...''(9) In 1997
the
Commission on Human Rights reminded governments that ''corporal punishment
can
amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment or even to
torture''.(10)
Offences punishable by the above-mentioned decrees include theft in certain
circumstances, monopolizing rationed goods, defaulting or deserting from
military service, and performing plastic surgery on an amputated arm or leg,
or removing the mark branded on the forehead. In August 1996, Amnesty
International was informed by the Iraqi Government that the RCC had issued
Decree 81/96 suspending the application of Articles 1, 2 and 3 of RCC Decree
115/94, which prescribe the punishment of amputation of the auricle of the
ears and the branding of the foreheads of army deserters, draft evaders or
persons providing them with shelter or protection. However, the abolition of
these penalties seems to be confined to RCC Decree 115/94, and does not
apply
to other RCC Decrees which prescribe punishments of amputation and branding,
notably RCC Decrees 59/94, 74/94, 92/94, 96/94 and 109/94.
During the period between the enactment of these decrees in 1994 and the
reported abolition of one of them in 1996, Amnesty International received
reports of hundreds of individuals who had been subjected to such
punishments.
For example, the organization has received testimony from two Iraqi doctors
who stated that, during late 1994 and up to the summer of 1995, nearly 100
individuals were brought to the hospital where they worked for amputation
every week. Indeed, on 9 September 1994, Iraqi television broadcast the
amputation and branding of one of the victims of these decrees, 37-year-old
'Ali 'Ubaid 'Ali, who was sentenced to amputation and branding following his
conviction of stealing a television set and 250 Iraqi dinars. Iraqi state
television broadcast the entire process, including both the amputation and
the
branding, and showed pictures of the victim's severed hand.
When these penalties were first announced, Iraqi authorities reportedly
stated
that individuals subjected to them would be required to pay 600 Iraqi dinars
for anaesthetics used during the operation. In cases where the victim could
not afford this sum, the operation would have to be carried out without
anaesthesia. This is consistent with known Iraqi Government policy in
executions, where it has been a long-standing and well-documented practice
for
the authorities to demand payment from families for the bullets used in the
execution. Amnesty International later received reports that President
Saddam
Hussain had issued an order that individuals sentenced to amputation of the
ear would receive anaesthetics free of charge.
In some instances, the penalty of amputation was apparently applied even
before the defendant had been brought to trial. For example, Amnesty
International received detailed testimony from one individual (name
withheld)
who was subjected to amputation and branding after he was arrested for
desertion from the army in September 1994. He testified that he was taken to
a
military hospital five days after his arrest, where his ear was severed and
his forehead branded without trial. At least ten deserters who were
subjected
to this punishment testified that they had deserted because they were no
longer able to support their families. Among these victims was Hassan
'Abdulllah Hussain, who deserted from the army in December 1994. He was
later
detained by the Iraqi authorities in Kirkuk and subjected to amputation of
the
upper part of one ear.
These corporal punishments were usually carried out by medical personnel in
public hospitals. However, according to testimony received by the UN Special
Rapporteur on Iraq, which was published in his November 1994 report on the
human rights situation in Iraq, the number of amputations carried out in
Iraq
was so great during 1994 that civilian doctors had to be taken directly to
the
prisons to perform the amputations.(11) Health professionals have been
forced
to perform these operations against their will; those who have refused have
become themselves victims of human rights violations. For example, Amnesty
International received reports that 60 medical students were arrested in
Basra
in December 1994 after refusing to carry out the punishments and/or after
performing cosmetic surgery on those subjected to them. In September 1994,
the
Director of the Al-Basra Military Hospital was also arrested and then
apparently executed for refusing to carry out the provisions of the decrees
prescribing these corporal punishments.
In addition, Amnesty International has received at least ten reports of
amputations and branding being carried out by non-medical personnel. A
number
of individuals subjected to amputation are reported to have died of
haemorrhage or infection following the procedure. Other victims are reported
to have committed suicide after the amputation.
Article 9: Right to liberty and security of person
I. Arbitrary arrest and prolonged incommunicado detention
Mass arrests of suspected government opponents and their relatives continue
to
be commonplace in Iraq. Hundreds of arrests of political opponents,
including
prisoners of conscience, are reported every year, while tens of thousands
arrested in the past are believed to be still held without charge or trial.
Such arrests are usually carried out without any warrant by security and
intelligence forces, often following demonstrations or alleged assassination
or coup attempts. The routine practice of holding detainees in incommunicado
detention for months or even years means that information about their fate
is
very difficult to obtain.
Relatives of detainees or suspected opponents who have fled abroad are
frequently arrested or placed under house arrest on account of their family
links. However, as recently as late 1996, former detainees have told Amnesty
International how they were arrested, beaten, tortured and then released
without ever knowing the reason for their arrest. In general, relatives of
those arrested would not dare to make inquiries about their whereabouts or
contact international bodies for fear of suffering a similar fate. When such
inquiries are made, Iraqi officials would deny holding the persons in
question
in their custody, even in cases where there were witnesses to the arrests.
After government forces entered Arbil at the end of August 1996, taking
control of the city and ousting forces of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan,
hundreds of suspected government opponents, including prisoners of
conscience,
were arrested. These included members of the Iraqi National Congress and the
Iraqi Communist Party, suspected members of Turkman and Islamist parties and
other non-Kurdish political opponents. They were said to be detained in
government-controlled areas, but their fate and whereabouts remain unknown.
Hundreds of arrests were reportedly carried out in Baghdad and other cities
in
connection with an assassination attempt on the President's eldest son,
'Uday
Saddam Hussain, in December 1996. The fate and whereabouts of those arrested
remain unknown; some of them are feared to have been executed.
The fate and whereabouts of hundreds of detainees arrested in previous years
are still not known, and there are fears that they may have been
extrajudicially executed while in custody or may have died under torture,
which is rife in Iraqi prisons and detention centres (see above). In 1992
several mass graves were uncovered near Arbil, Sulaimaniya and other
regions,
each containing the remains of scores of Kurdish civilians and combatants
who
had ''disappeared'' in custody.
II. ''Disappearances''
Since the early 1980s hundreds of thousands of people have ''disappeared''
in
Iraq, and their fate and whereabouts remain unknown to this date. The
victims
include a wide variety of people and groups: Kurds, Arabs, Turcomans,
Assyrians; Sunni and Shi'a Muslims, Christians and others; men, women and
children; members of prohibited political parties and their families;
military
personnel and deserters; disaffected members of the ruling elite; Iraqi
nationals returning from abroad to benefit from officially-declared
amnesties
and others.
In most cases of ''disappearances'', it is virtually impossible to discover
the fate or whereabouts of the victims. The families of the ''disappeared''
usually remain ignorant of their fate until they are either released or
confirmed to have been executed, sometimes after many years have elapsed.
The
bodies of the victims are sometimes returned to the families, who are forced
to pay a fee to cover ''state expenses'', including the cost of the bullets
used in the execution. In the majority of cases, however, the bodies are
never
returned, and families live for years in hope of seeing ''disappeared''
relatives who may long since be dead.
Amnesty International has on numerous occasions over the years expressed its
concern at the practice of ''disappearances'' by the Iraqi authorities. The
organization has obtained the names of thousands of victims who are still
unaccounted for. It is estimated, for example, that over 100,000 Kurdish
civilians ''disappeared'' in 1988 alone, in a space of three to four months,
during the so-called Operation Anfal when the Iraqi Government implemented a
program of destruction of villages and towns all over Iraqi Kurdistan under
the pretext of resettling the inhabitants in areas which offered improved
living conditions.
Among the people who ''disappeared'' on account of their or their relatives'
political activities are the seven brothers of al-Hashimi family, Ahmad,
'Abd
al-Wahab, Ibrahim, Hussain, Iyad, 'Abd al-Ridha, and Isma'il; they have all
''disappeared'' since their arrest in Baghdad on 1 October 1980. They were
believed to have been arrested as ''hostages'' in lieu of another brother,
Ja'far al-Hashimi, who had fled Iraq and who was wanted by the authorities
for
his suspected opposition to the Government. Amnesty International issued
several appeals on behalf of the al-Hashimi bothers and raised their case
with
Iraqi authorities in 1993 but to no avail. Their case was also submitted to
the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances in March
1994.
Amnesty International has not received any response from the Iraqi
Government
regarding this case.
In June 1993, Amnesty International obtained an official document, dated
April
1984, containing a list of 58 people, including the names of three of the
al-Hashimi brothers, whose properties were being confiscated by the Iraqi
Government; it is common practice for Iraqi political detainees or suspected
opponents who flee abroad to have their properties and possessions
confiscated
by the government. This was the first time the authorities had, albeit
indirectly, acknowledged the detention of at least three of the brothers.
In April 1997, Amnesty International received confirmation that the eldest
of
the brothers, Isma'il, was executed on 3 August 1983. A copy of the death
certificate was made available to Amnesty International. Isma'il al-Hashimi
was accused of failing to provide the authorities with information about
Ja'far's opposition activities. No further information is available on the
six
remaining brothers.
At the end of 1990-1991 Gulf war, and following the March 1991 uprising by
Arab Shi'a Muslims in the south and by Kurds in the north, serious human
rights violations were reported, including ''disappearances'' and
extrajudicial executions. The fate and whereabouts of 106 Shi'a Muslim
clerics
and students remain unknown. It is believe that around 12,000 people
arrested
in connection with the 1991 uprising continue to be detained in al-Radwaniya
garrison, south-west of Baghdad. During the same period, when the Iraqi
forces
pulled out of Kuwait, more than 600 Kuwaiti and other nationals were
arrested
and taken to Iraq. Despite repeated appeals and international pressure,
nothing has been heard of them. The sole exception is Nadia Muhammad
al-'Anaizi, a Kuwaiti woman believed to be one of those arrested in Kuwait
and
taken to Iraq, who was released by the Iraqi authorities in May 1996.
At the end of August 1996, when Iraqi forces entered the northern city of
Arbil, until then under the control of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan,
hundreds of suspected members of opposition groups and their relatives are
believed to have ''disappeared''. They were reportedly taken to detention
centres and prisons in areas under the control of the Iraqi Government.
Amnesty International continues to receive reports of ''disappearances'' and
has raised its concerns on the issue with the Government of Iraq on a number
of occasions. So far the Government has failed to clarify the fate of the
''disappeared'' or take concrete measures to end this practice.
Article 14: Unfair trials
There is no independent judiciary or independent Bar Association in Iraq.
Although the Iraqi Constitution stipulates that the Judiciary is independent
and subject only to the authority of the law(12), the organization and
jurisdiction of the judicial authority are in actual fact subject to the
control of the RCC, which frequently promulgates decrees intervening in the
judicial process. These decrees have the force of law and are not subject to
any judicial control or review. Many of the safeguards provided for in
Article
14 of the ICCPR are either lacking or blatantly ignored in practice even for
those facing the death penalty or other irreversible punishments.
Over the years, Amnesty International has repeatedly expressed its concern
about the persistent violation of the right to a fair trial in Iraq. The
basic
internationally recognized standards for fair trial are routinely flouted in
Iraqi courts, particularly the special courts which are frequently set up by
decision of the RCC to try persons accused of particular offences..
For example, both RCC Decrees 39 (see above) and 111 provide for the trial
of
defendants accused of capital offences under these Decrees before special
courts set up at the Ministries of Interior and Defence, respectively.
Amnesty
International has in the past raised concerns about these courts, which by
their nature lack judicial independence. Article 5 of RCC Decree 111, for
example, states that the sentences issued by the special court, which is
established in the Ministry of Defence, are final with the exception of
death
sentences which are only subject to ratification by the Minister of Defence.
These unfair trial concerns are particularly disturbing in capital cases, as
highlighted in the UN Safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of
those facing the death penalty, Articles 5 and 6 of which underscore the
importance of a fair trial and require an appeal to a higher court for all
those facing the death penalty.
Accurate monitoring of such courts is hampered by the lack of public access
to
their verdicts and sentences. Indeed, in many cases it is not even possible
to
ascertain whether any kind of judicial process has actually taken place
prior
to sentencing. In other cases, judicial punishments amounting to torture or
to
cruel, inhuman or degrading punishments such as amputation were apparently
meted out to some individuals even before they were brought to trial (see
p.10
above).
The majority of trials conducted before these special courts fall far short
of
internationally recognized standards for fair trial. The courts' benches
usually consist of appointed military, security or intelligence officers or
civil servants, who lack adequate training and independence. Access to a
government appointed lawyer is severely restricted and occasionally confined
to the day of the trial, which is conducted in camera. The role of the
defence
counsel is said to be often restricted to pleading for clemency or reduction
of sentence. Defendants charged with capital offences are frequently denied
their legal right to call witnesses on their behalf or to submit evidence
refuting the charges. Confessions are also extracted under torture, and are
often used as the sole basis for conviction.
6- US Department of State reports- 7 May 2001
Destroying the Marshes
Since the Gulf war, Iraqi forces have dried and cleared most of Iraq's
southern marshes in actions against the predominantly Shi'a Muslim Arabs
living there. In the spring of 1991, a post-Gulf war Shi'a uprising engulfed
much of southern Iraq. After Baghdad regained control of the major cities,
some of the insurgents retreated to safe havens in the Al 'Amarah and Hawr
al
Hammar Marshes. Baghdad's strategy for dealing with this insurgency was to
dry
the southern wetlands through a large-scale water diversion project in an
effort to remove the insurgents' cover and concealment.
For more than 1,000 years, the marshes - roughly 5,200 square kilometers in
area - provided all the necessities of life for tens of thousands of Arab
marsh dwellers. During the Iran-Iraq war, the Iraqi military constructed
causeways to move armored units and supplies more easily along the southern
border area. This construction caused drying of the eastern third of the
marshlands by the mid-to-late 1980s. After the 1991 Shi'a uprising, the
Baghdad regime undertook an ambitious effort to dry the entire region. With
the completion of an east-west dam and a north-south canal, the major water
supply to Al 'Amarah Marsh was cut off.
By the fall of 1993, very little standing water (less than 52 square
kilometers) remained in the former marsh area and the marsh-drying program
caused the evaporation of most surface water from the Hawr al Hammar and Al
'Amarah Marshes. The immediate effect of the loss of surface water was the
widespread destruction of indigenous vegetation that required year-round
standing water.
August 1972
The southern marshes as they looked in 1972. For more than 1,000 years,
Iraq's southern marshes' 5,200-square-kilometer area provided the livelihood
for its Arab marsh dwellers. During the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, the Iraqis
constructed causeways, which enabled them to move armored units and supplies
more easily along the southern border area. This construction caused drying
of
the eastern third of the marshlands by 1991.
March 1993
After the 1991 Shi'a uprising, the Baghdad regime undertook an ambitious
effort to dry the southern marshes. With the completion of an east-west dam
and a north-south canal, the major water supply to the Al 'Amarah Marsh was
cut off. Areas that were once year-round lakes are dry, and a layer of dried
salt has been deposited on the surface.
May 2000
By May 2001, more than 90 percent of the Al 'Amarah and the Hawr al Hammar
marshes were almost completely dry according to the UN Environmental
Program.
Efforts are currently underway to dry the Hawr al Hawizah Marsh on the
Iran-Iraq border through a canal that will divert the water to the Tigris
River at Al Qurnah. Once this marsh is dried, the wetlands of southern Iraq
will be gone, eliminating this important food-producing area at a time when
Iraq claims its citizens are starving because of UN sanctions.
By 1993 the marshes sheltered 200,000 to 250,000 inhabitants - more than
half
Marsh Arabs; the rest various internally displaced persons and
oppositionists.
Today, nearly all are displaced - less than 10,000 Marsh Arabs still survive
the regime's systematic destruction, bulldozing, and artillery bombardments,
while thousands were secretly executed by Iraqi forces, including women and
children.
7- Amnesty International- report- Iraq on 14/03/96
State cruelty: branding, amputation and the death penalty
In 1994, the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC), Iraq's highest executive
body, introduced a series of decrees which called for amputation of hands
and
ears, branding of the forehead and execution for at least 30 criminal
offences. These punishments were first introduced in April 1994, apparently
in
response to the rising crime rate resulting from worsening economic
conditions
in Iraq. The economic sanctions against Iraq imposed by a UN Security
Council
cease fire resolution in April 1991 remained in force. (Amnesty
International
takes no position on the use of economic sanctions by the international
community.) Between April and September of that year, the RCC promulgated 15
such decrees for offences ranging from theft in certain circumstances and
the
monopolisation of rationed goods, by hoarding or refusing to sell, to
desertion from the military and purchase of foreign currency from
non-licensed
bureaux.
On 18 January 1996, according to a report by Reuters news agency, Justice
Minister Shabib al-Maliki stated that Iraq had abolished several laws
curbing
the freedom of citizens, and that the decree covering the amputation of ears
was null and void. He also said penalties such as amputation of hands and
branding of the forehead had been stopped and would be officially abolished.
However, there have been no reports to date to confirm or refute his
statements. While there have been no reports of amputations and brandings
since late last year, executions of political opponents continue, and the
RCC
has not to date officially abolished or changed the 1994 decrees.
On 17 March 1996, the Iraqi News Agency reported that President Saddam
Hussain
had ordered an end to the practice of ear amputations for army desertion and
the release of hundreds of army deserters and evaders. There has been no
known
official decree issued to that effect.
Amnesty International had meanwhile received reports of hundreds of
individuals who have been subjected to such punishments. The organizations
concerns regarding the overall human rights situation in Iraq have
repeatedly
been placed on public record. The organization has documented gross human
rights violations committed on a massive scale throughout the 1980s and
1990s
in Iraq. These violations have included the detention of tens of thousands
of
suspected government opponents and their relatives; widespread torture and
ill-treatment, often resulting in deaths in custody; the disappearance or
extrajudicial execution of hundreds of thousands of people - including whole
communities - for political reasons, and the widespread use of the death
penalty for numerous criminal and political offences after unfair trials.
The
Iraqi Government has sanctioned mass killings and torture as a matter of
policy and violated its obligations under international law as a party to
the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
This report summarizes a document (4952 words), : IRAQ State cruelty:
branding, amputation and the death penalty (AI Index: 14/03/96) issued by
Amnesty International in April 1996. Anyone wishing further details or to
take
action on this issue should consult the full document below.
8- Amnesty International- Iraq- report on 15/08/2001
Systematic torture of political prisoners
Torture is used systematically against political detainees in Iraqi prisons
and detention centres. The scale and severity of torture in Iraq can only
result from the acceptance of its use at the highest level. There are no
attempts to curtail or prevent such violations or punish those responsible.
This total disregard for a basic human right, the right not to be tortured
or
ill-treated, grossly violates international human rights law which prohibits
torture in all circumstances. The International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR), which Iraq ratified in 1971, states that ''No one
shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment''(Article 7).
Amnesty International has over the years received numerous reports of
torture
and interviewed hundreds of torture victims. The organization has also
published many reports documenting a wide range of human rights violations
in
the country, including torture and ill-treatment. Victims of torture in Iraq
have been subjected to a wide range of forms of torture. The bodies of many
of
those executed had evident signs of torture, including the gouging out of
the
eyes, marks of severe beatings and electric shocks to various parts of the
body, when returned to their families. Some detainees died as a result of
torture. Many torture victims now live with permanent physical or
psychological damage.
Torture is used both to extract information or confessions from detainees
and
as a punishment. Political detainees are tortured immediately following
arrest
and their torture generally takes place in the headquarters of the General
Security Directorate in Baghdad or in its branches in Baghdad and in the
governorates. Torture also takes place in the headquarters of the General
Intelligence (al-Mukhabarat al-'Amma) in al-Hakimiya in Baghdad, its
branches
elsewhere, as well as in police stations and detention centres such as
al-Radhwaniya. Detainees in these places are held incommunicado for months
or
even years without access to any lawyers or family visits.
Victims of torture have included suspected government opponents who range
from
army, security and intelligence officers suspected of having contacts with
the
Iraqi opposition abroad or accused of plotting against the government, to
followers of leading Shi'a Muslim religious personalities. Torture has also
been used against women suspected of having links with Shi'a Islamist groups
in the country or simply because of family links. In many cases relatives of
those active in the Iraqi opposition abroad have been tortured or
ill-treated
as a way of putting pressure on those opposition leaders to cease their
activities.
Iraq's legislation prohibits the use of torture. Article 22(a) of Iraq's
Interim Constitution states that ''the dignity of the person is safeguarded.
It is inadmissible to cause any physical or psychological harm''. Article
127
of the Code of Criminal Procedure states that ''it is not permissible to use
any illegal means to influence the accused to secure his statement.
Mistreatment, threatening to harm, inducement, threats, menace,
psychological
influence, and the use of narcotics, intoxicants and drugs are all
considered
illegal means.'' In fact the Iraqi Penal Code criminalizes the use of
torture
by any public servant. Article 333 states that ''any employee or public
servant who tortures, or orders the torture of an accused, witness, or
expert
in order to compel that person to confess to committing a crime, to give a
statement or information, to hide certain matters, or to give a specific
opinion will be punished by imprisonment or detention. The use of force or
threats is considered to be torture''. Amnesty International is not aware of
any instances where officials suspected of torture of detainees have been
brought to justice.
In the mid-1990s Iraq introduced judicial punishments such as amputation of
hand and foot, branding of forehead and cutting off of the ears, and many
people have been left with permanently mutilated bodies as a result of such
punishments. Such punishments have been described as cruel, inhuman and
degrading by international human rights bodies. The Iraqi Government
justified
the introduction of these punishments by the increase in the crime rate
which
it attributed to the impact of economic sanctions imposed on the country
since
1990.
Iraq continues to be subjected to comprehensive trading sanctions imposed by
UN Security Council resolutions since 1990 in the aftermath of its
occupation
of Kuwait. The sanctions have, according to many international experts,
journalists, non-governmental organizations and UN agencies, crippled Iraq's
economic infrastructure and have resulted in the breakdown of the
socio-cultural fabric of the society, acute poverty, malnutrition,
wide-spread
corruption and crime, and the reported deaths of over half a million
children
under the age of five.(1) It is, however, the responsibility of the Iraqi
Government to uphold the rule of law and respect of human rights.
The international community has been concerned about the human rights
situation in Iraq for many years and therefore decided in 1991 to appoint a
Special Rapporteur in order to report regularly to the UN Commission on
Human
Rights on the situation of human rights in Iraq.
9- Amnesty International - Iraq report on 29 March 2001
The fate of 106 religious clerics and students still unknown after ten years
On the eve of the tenth anniversary of the arrest of 106 Shi'a clerics and
students from the southern city of al-Najaf by the Iraqi authorities,
Amnesty
International expresses its deepest concern about their whereabouts.
"Ten years have passed since these people "disappeared" and the obligation
remains on the government to clarify their fate" said Amnesty International
today. "So far, there has been no evidence that the 106 victims were killed
during the 1991 uprising or fled to other countries, as was suggested by the
Iraqi authorities in a letter sent to Amnesty International in September
1993," added the organization.
The 106 arrested in March 1991, included 44 Iraqis, 28 Iranians and 34
nationals of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Bahrain.
Amnesty International calls on the government to release immediately and
unconditionally all "disappeared" detainees including the 106 clerics and
students and the 600 or so Kuwaiti and other nationals who were arrested
during the occupation of Kuwait from 2 August 1990 to 26 February 1991.
"It is also the duty of the authorities of India, Pakistan, Iran,
Afghanistan,
Bahrain and Lebanon to urge the Iraqi Government to clarify the fate of
their
nationals", concluded Amnesty International.
The arrest of the 106 clerics and students took place in the context of the
March 1991 uprising which swept across Iraq in the weeks following the end
of
the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait. Shi'a Muslims in southern Iraq rose against
the government and the uprising quickly spread to the Kurdish towns and
cities
in northern Iraq. However, by the end of March 1991 government forces had
largely succeeded in crushing the uprising and in the process widespread and
serious human rights violations were reported, including arbitrary arrests,
detention without trial, "disappearances" and extrajudicial executions. At
some point an estimated two million people had fled to neighbouring Iran,
Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
On 20 March 1991, Grand Ayatollah Abu al-Qassem al-Kho'i, aged 95, Shi'a
Islam's most senior cleric was arrested in al-Najaf along with seven members
of his family. He was detained for two days in Baghdad and returned to
al-Najaf where he remained under house arrest until his death in 1992. In
the
following days the Iraqi authorities arrested 107 people, students of Shi'a
Islam or followers of the Grand Ayatollah. While one of them, a Pakistani
national, was released in 1992, the fate and whereabouts of the other 106
remain unknown. They included Ayatollah al- Sayyid Murtadha Jawad al-Khadimi
al-Khalkhali, who was 89 years old, two of his sons and three of his
grandchildren, Ayatollah al-Sayyid 'Ala'uddin 'Ali Bahr al-'Ulum, aged 58, a
well known religious scholar, and three of his sons, and al-Sayyid Muhammad
Ridah al-Sayyid Muhsin al-Hakim, aged 65, another well known religious
scholar.
10- 56/174. Situation of human rights in Iraq
Resolution adopted by the General Assembly- 19 December 2001
Notes with dismay that there has been no improvement in the situation of
human
rights in the country.
Strongly condemns:
(a) The systematic, widespread and extremely grave violations of human
rights
and of international humanitarian law by the Government of Iraq, resulting
in
all-pervasive repression and oppression sustained by broad-based
discrimination and widespread terror;
(b) The suppression of freedom of thought, expression, information,
association, assembly and movement, through fear of arrest, imprisonment,
execution, expulsion, house demolition and other sanctions;
(c) The repression faced by any kind of opposition, in particular the
harassment and intimidation of and threats against Iraqi opponents living
abroad and members of their families;
(d) The widespread use of the death penalty in disregard of the provisions
of
the International Covenant on Civil and Political RightsError! Bookmark not
defined. and the United Nations safeguards;
(e) Summary and arbitrary executions, including political killings and the
continued so-called clean-out of prisons, the use of rape as a political
tool,
as well as enforced or involuntary disappearances, routinely practised
arbitrary arrests and detention and consistent and routine failure to
respect
due process and the rule of law;
(f) Widespread, systematic torture, and the maintaining of decrees
prescribing cruel and inhuman punishment as a penalty for offences;
4. Calls upon the Government of Iraq:
(a) To abide by its freely undertaken obligations under international human
rights treaties and international humanitarian law to respect and ensure the
rights of all individuals, irrespective of their origin, ethnicity, gender
or
religion, within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction;
(b) To put an end to all summary and arbitrary executions and to ensure that
capital punishment will not be imposed for crimes other than the most
serious
and will not be pronounced in disregard of the obligations assumed under the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the provisions of
United Nations safeguards;
(c) To bring the actions of its military and security forces into conformity
with the standards of international law, in particular those of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
(d) To cooperate with United Nations human rights mechanisms, in particular
by inviting the Special Rapporteur to visit the country and allowing the
stationing of human rights monitors throughout Iraq pursuant to the relevant
resolutions of the General Assembly and the Commission on Human Rights;
(e) To establish the independence of the judiciary and abrogate all laws
granting impunity to specified forces or persons killing or injuring
individuals for any purpose beyond the administration of justice under the
rule of law as prescribed by international standards;
(f) To abrogate all decrees that prescribe cruel and inhuman punishment or
treatment, including mutilation, and to ensure that torture and cruel
punishment and treatment no longer occur;
(g) To abrogate all laws and procedures, including Revolution Command
Council
Decree No. 840 of 4 November 1986, that penalize free expression, and to
ensure that the genuine will of the people shall be the basis of authority
of
the State;
(h) To ensure free exercise of political opposition and to prevent
intimidation and repression of political opponents and their families;
(i) To respect the rights of all ethnic and religious groups and to cease
immediately its continued repressive practices aimed at the Iraqi Kurds,
Assyrians and Turkmen, including the practice of forced deportation and
relocation, and to ensure the personal integrity and freedoms of all
citizens,
including the Shi'a population.
15- The regime imposed economic Sanctions against many Shia town
in southern
Iraq is considered a Genocide against those deprived people in
the southern
provinces
The real problem with the sanctions is that they target the
wrong people: the
poor, young, elderly and otherwise infirm members of Iraqi
society. In the
past 12 years, as many as 1 million to 2 million Iraqis may have
died as a
result of the sanctions, many of them children under the age of
5. This is
more than were massacred in Rwanda in 1994, and on a par with
the Armenian
Holocaust of 1915-1919. UNICEF officials estimated in 2000 that
5,000 to 6,000
Iraqi children were dying each month primarily due to sanctions.
That is
equivalent to a World Trade Towers-scale calamity -- in a nation
of only 18
million -- every month for the past decade or more.
Yet these Iraqi victims of sanctions have no more control over
their
government's behavior than we do. U.S. officials have clearly
known the lethal
impact of sanctions for years and have actively campaigned to
maintain them
regardless.
Knowing pursuit of a policy that kills members of a group,
causes serious
bodily or mental harm to them or inflicts on them conditions of
life
calculated to bring about their physical destruction in whole or
in part
constitutes genocide under international law. The crime of
genocide is defined
in the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the
Crime of
Genocide, a treaty we ratified in 1988.
It is not enough to say that Saddam is responsible for the
plight of his
people. That claim is legally and factually inaccurate. We are
not free of all
constraints in the way we respond to illegal acts by others.
Police, for
example, do not have the right to slaughter innocents on the way
to
apprehending criminals, even serious ones. Neither has Saddam's
government
misspent funds meant to alleviate the suffering of the Iraqi
people, at least
not in any degree likely to have altered their terrible fate.
Our officials have simply made a conscious calculation that the
cost of Iraqi
lives destroyed by sanctions are, to quote former Secretary of
State Madeleine
Albright when questioned about the issue, "worth it."
Meanwhile, the American public, spared graphic images of more
conventional
warfare by a policy that operates by more insidious means, has
been lulled
into complacency. It is hard to imagine that Americans would
tolerate a
conventional military campaign that caused almost exclusively
civilian deaths
numbering a million or more, many of them children under the age
of 5, no
matter how worthy the ends sought. But 12 years of sanctions
have accomplished
just that, while evoking scarcely a ripple of public protest.
No benefit attained by sanctions can justify genocide. Sanctions
themselves
are indefensible. They also engender cynicism, even hatred,
toward the United
States among Muslims and peoples of the Middle East and
elsewhere. They
represent a failed, bankrupt policy. Sanctions should be finally
abandoned,
not just "smartened."
Past efforts to tailor sanctions to avoid humanitarian
repercussions have
never succeeded, and are not likely to succeed now. Alternatives
to sanctions
-- other than war -- do exist. They require patience, building
consensus
within the international community, a consistent plan for
regional disarmament
and, above all, respect for international law. There is always
an alternative
to genocide: no genocide
sectarian discrimination
Shia demand for redress became the subject of vitriolic
accusations of
"sectarianism" by the authorities, even though the Shia were the
prime victims
of the state's sectarianism
The Shia's opposition to the state in Iraq is based on political
rather than
sectarian considerations and has evolved as a consequence of a
prolonged
process of continuing sectarian discrimination and cruel
oppression by the
state..
1. The abolition of dictatorship and its replacement with
democracy.
2. The abolition of ethnic discrimination and its replacement
with a federal
structure for Kurdistan
3. The abolition of the policy of discrimination against the
Shia
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end
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| User: "Rich Travsky " |
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| Title: Re: "What, me worry?" |
02 Aug 2005 10:48:57 PM |
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~Harry Hope wrote:
Genocide and Human Rights Violations in the Southern Provinces of Iraq after
the popular uprising of 1991
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Rumsfeld-hussein.jpg
Rummy sez to Saddam, Mission Accomplished
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