http://www.turkishweekly.net/news.php?id=38819
Friday , 22 September 2006
* The United Nations released a report Sept. 21 that says
violent activity in Iraq is on the rise, and that violent Iraqi
deaths have reached their highest ever two-month level.
* Civilian deaths soar to record high in Iraq: Nearly 7,000
civilians were killed in Iraq in the past two months, according
to a UN report just released - a record high that is far greater
than initial estimates had suggested.
* "Detainees' bodies show signs of beating using electrical
cables, wounds in different parts of their bodies including
in the head and genitals, broken bones of legs and hands,
electric and cigarette burns," said the UN report.
* The UN said bodies dumped in the ditches and streets of
Baghdad and elsewhere across the country as a result of
sectarian violence also "bear signs indicating that the
victims have been brutally tortured before their
extra-judicial execution."
* The signs of torture were confirmed by witnesses,
the office said.
Torture may be worse now in Iraq than under former leader
Saddam Hussein, the UN's chief anti-torture expert says.
Manfred Nowak said the situation in Iraq was "out of control",
with abuses being committed by security forces, militia groups
and anti-US insurgents.
Bodies found in the Baghdad morgue "often bear signs of
severe torture", said the human rights office of the UN
Assistance Mission in Iraq in a report.
The wounds confirmed reports given by refugees from Iraq,
Mr Nowak said.
He told journalists at a briefing in Geneva that he had yet
to visit Iraq, but he was able to base his information on
autopsies and interviews with Iraqis in neighbouring Jordan.
"What most people tell you is that the situation as far as
torture is concerned now in Iraq is totally out of hand," the
Austrian law professor said.
"The situation is so bad many people say it is worse than it
has been in the times of Saddam Hussein," he added.
- Brutal methods
The UN report says detainees' bodies often show signs of
beating using electrical cables, wounds in heads and genitals,
broken legs and hands, electric and cigarette burns.
Bodies found at the Baghdad mortuary "often bear signs of
severe torture including acid-induced injuries and burns
caused by chemical substances".
Many bodies have missing skin, broken bones, back, hands
and legs, missing eyes, missing teeth and wounds caused by
power drills or nails, the UN report says.
Victims come from prisons run by US-led multinational forces
as well as by the ministries of interior and defence and
private militias, the report said.
The most brutal torture methods were employed by private
militias, Mr Nowak told journalists.
The report also says the frequency of sectarian bloodletting
means bodies are often found which "bear signs indicating that
the victims have been brutally tortured before their
extra-judicial execution".
It concludes that torture threatens "the very fabric of the
country" as victims exact their own revenge and fuel further
violence.
Mr Nowak said he would like to visit Iraq in person, but the
current situation would not allow him to prepare an accurate
report, because it would not be safe to leave Baghdad's heavily
guarded Green Zone where the Iraqi government and US leadership
are situated.
- Iraq torture report by UN angers Washington
The Bush Administration angrily rejected a claim by a
United Nations official today that more Iraqis are being
tortured now than when Saddam Hussein was in power,
the Times reported.
A State Department official in Washington, asked about
Professor Nowak's comments, told The Times newspaper:
"How anyone could compare state-sanctioned torture under
a dictator to the situation today is beyond us. We
definitely don't agree with his remarks. We don't agree
with his assessment of the situation at all."
JTW, BBC News and News Agencies
22 September 2006
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