Wayzata World Factbook 1996/The World Factbook - 1996 Edition - Wayzata Technology (3079) (1996).iso/pc/text/humanrts/iraq.txt

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TITLE: IRAQ HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1994
AUTHOR: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DATE: FEBRUARY 1995

                             IRAQ*


Political power in Iraq is concentrated in a repressive
one-party apparatus dominated by Saddam Hussein.  The
provisional Constitution of 1968 stipulates that the Arab
Ba'ath Socialist Party governs Iraq through the Revolutionary
Command Council (RCC), which exercises both executive and
legislative authority.  President Saddam Hussein, who is also
Prime Minister, Chairman of the RCC, and Secretary General of
the Regional Command of the ABSP, wields decisive power.

Ethnically and linguistically, the Iraqi population includes
Arabs, Kurds, Turcomans, Yazidis, and Armenians.  The religious
mix is likewise varied:  Shi'a and Sunni Muslims (both Arab and
Kurdish), Christians (including Chaldeans and Assyrians), and
Jews.  Ethnic divisions have resulted in civil uprisings in
recent years, especially in the north and the south.  The
Government has reacted against these peoples with extreme
repression.

The Government's security apparatus includes militias attached
to the President, the Ba'ath Party, and the Interior Ministry.
Security forces have been responsible for widespread and
systematic human rights abuses.  They play a central role in
maintaining the environment of intimidation and fear on which
government power rests.

The Government controls Iraq's oil-based economy and owns all
major industries.  Damaged by the Gulf War and subjected to
United Nations sanctions as a result of Iraq's 1990 invasion of
Kuwait, the economy continues to deteriorate.  The sanctions
ban all exports and imports except food, medicine, and
materials and supplies for essential civilian needs.  The
Government's failure to comply with U.N. Security Council
resolutions has led to repeated extensions of the sanctions.

The Government's abysmal record on human rights did not improve
in 1994, and worsened in several areas.  Systematic violations
continued in all categories, including mass executions of
political opponents, widespread use of torture, extreme
repression of ethnic groups, disappearances, denial of due
process, and arbitrary detention.  Tens of thousands of
political killings and disappearances remain unresolved from
previous years.  Human rights abuses are difficult to document
because of the Government's efforts to conceal the facts.


*The United States does not have an embassy in Iraq.  This
report draws to a large extent on non-U.S. Government sources.
Citizens do not have the right to change their government, and
the freedoms of expression and association do not exist, except
in Kurdish-controlled areas in the north under the protection
of international forces.

The regime deliberately targeted civilians in military
operations against Shi'a Arabs living in the southern marshes.
In the north, the regime maintained an internal embargo on the
importation of food, medicine, and other humanitarian goods to
Kurdish areas.  It imposed additional electricity cut-offs in
Dohuk governorate, exacerbating the electrical crisis it had
initiated there in late 1993.  Elsewhere, the regime diverted
humanitarian supplies to its own supporters and to the
military.  As socioeconomic conditions deteriorated in 1994,
the regime introduced new forms of torture for persons accused
of economic crimes and military desertion.

In violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, the
Government persisted in its flagrant interference with the
international community's provision of humanitarian
assistance.  It harassed and intimidated relief workers and
targeted them for assassination.  A German journalist covering
the relief effort and her Kurdish bodyguard were shot to death,
execution-style.  Several other international personnel,
including United Nations guards and journalists, were
critically injured in bomb and shooting attacks.  New
information came to light indicating that the Government
offered rewards for killing international relief personnel.

RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Section 1  Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including
           Freedom from:

     a.  Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing

The regime has a long record of executing perceived opponents.
In his October report to the U.N. General Assembly, the U.N.
Special Rapporteur (hereafter referred to as the Special
Rapporteur) stated that the Government's "aim of killing is a
political one, with the objective of silencing dissent and
suppressing opposition."

As in previous years, there were numerous credible reports that
the regime had executed a number of persons allegedly involved
in plotting against Saddam Hussein, including some members of
his family and tribe.  High-ranking civilian, military, and
tribal leaders were reported among those executed.

On April 12, an opposition figure, Talib Suhayl Al-Tamimi, was
assassinated in Beirut, Lebanon.  Lebanese security officials
arrested two Iraqi diplomats assigned to Beirut and charged
them with the murder.  The suspects admitted their guilt but at
year's end there was no movement toward a trial.

The Government continued to provide safe haven and logistical
and military support to several terrorist groups and
individuals.  These include the Mojahedin-e Khalq, which is
opposed to the Government of Iran; elements of the Abu Nidal
Organization, based in Lebanon; Abu Abbas' Palestine Liberation
Front (PLF); and the notorious bomb-maker Abu Ibrahim.  Both
Abbas and Ibrahim enjoyed sanctuary in Iraq.

In July the prominent oppositionist, Taki Al-Khoei, and two
other members of his family and their driver were killed under
suspicious circumstances in an automobile crash in southern
Iraq, near Al Najaf.  Strong circumstantial evidence pointed to
the Government's involvement.  The Government had long targeted
the Al-Khoei family for harassment and abuse.  The family is
renowned in Shi'a circles for its religious leadership and
outspoken condemnation of the regime's human rights record (see
Section 1.b.).

The Special Rapporteur noted in his February report several
cases of political killing dating from 1993.  These included
mass executions of Shi'a Arabs at the Al-Radwaniyah and Abu
Ghraib prisons in central Iraq.  According to the Special
Rapporteur, some of those killed had been involved in the
uprising against the Government in the spring of 1991.

In November 1993, the Special Rapporteur reported that the
Government had executed several Turcomans whose bodies were
mutilated before being returned to their families.

As in past years, the Special Rapporteur noted the frequent use
of the death penalty for such political offenses as "insulting"
the President or the Ba'ath Party.  His February report
summarized several RCC decrees that stipulate the death penalty
for political and civil offenses (see Section 1.e.).

As in previous years, authorities arrested and placed in
detention centers in central Iraq numerous Shi'a inhabitants of
the south.  Shi'a witnesses who survived detention later
reported that some of their comrades had been executed (see
Section 1.g.).  As the Government strictly controls the
movement of international personnel in the southern marshes,
information is not available to confirm the number of persons
killed.

Political killings and terrorist actions were frequent in the
north and directed against civilians, foreign relief workers,
journalists, and opposition leaders.  German journalist Lissy
Schmidt and her Kurdish bodgyguard, Aziz Kader Faraj, were shot
to death on April 3 in an ambush near Suleymaniya.  Kurdish
authorities arrested several suspects who reportedly confessed
that the Government had paid them to commit the murders.

The U.S. Government announced in April it had information
indicating that the Government of Iraq had offered monetary
"bounties" to anyone who assassinates United Nations and other
international relief workers.

Amnesty International (AI) reported that three Kurdish
political parties in northern Iraq--the Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan, the Kurdish Democratic Party, and the Islamic Party
in Iraqi Kurdistan--had committed scores of deliberate and
arbitrary killings against each other in 1993.  Press reports
indicated that the Kurdish parties continued to commit
arbitrary killings against each other in 1994.

In 1994 additional information came to light concerning the
so-called Anfal Campaign ("Spoils") of 1988, in which tens of
thousands of Kurds reportedly lost their lives.  The campaign
is the most prominent example of political killing.  During the
campaign, government forces arrested thousands of Kurds who
have never been seen again.  They are presumed to have been
died in custody (see Sections 1.b. and 1.g.).

In his February report, the Special Rapporteur concluded that
the Government's policies against the Kurds--in particular,
against the Barzani tribe--"raise issues of crimes against
humanity and violations of the 1948 Genocide Convention."  He
noted "significant similarities" between the Government's past
policies toward the Kurds and its current policies toward Shi'a
civilians living in the southern marshes.  The Special
Rapporteur recommended that "further consideration be given to
establish the facts and responsibilities associated with
atrocities committed against the Kurdish population."

     b.  Disappearance

In February the Special Rapporteur reported that he continued
to receive "reports on the widespread phenomenon of
disappearance."  He stated that the U.N. Working Group on
Enforcement on Involuntary Disappearances had conveyed to the
Government 10,570 names of disappeared persons and planned to
convey another 5,000.

The United Nations has documented 16,000 cases of disappeared
persons.  According to the Special Rapporteur, most of the
disappearances occurred during the Anfal Campaign.  However, he
estimates that the total figure for disappeared Kurds during
Anfal could number in the tens of thousands.  Middle East Watch
estimates the total at between 70,000 and 100,000, and AI at
more than 100,000.  The Special Rapporteur noted that persons
continue to disappear, mainly in the southern marshes, where
the Government is conducting counterinsurgency operations.

New information came to light regarding the Barzani arrests of
1983, in which security forces detained thousands of relatives
and tribesmen of the late Kurdish nationalist hero Mustapha
Barzani.  None of these detainees were ever seen again.  The
Special Rapporteur observed in February that the regime's
treatment of the Barzani tribe may constitute violations of the
Genocide Convention.

The Special Rapporteur and various human rights groups
continued to make inquiries with the Government regarding its
arrest in 1991 of the late Grand Ayatollah Abdul Qasim Al-Khoei
and 108 of his associates.  The Ayatollah died while under
house arrest in Al-Najaf, and only two of the persons arrested
with him can be accounted for.  The regime has not responded to
queries regarding the others arrested with Al-Khoei.

The Government failed to return, or account for, a large number
of Kuwaiti citizens and third-country nationals detained during
the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait.  It denies having any knowledge
of the missing persons.  U.N. Security Council Resolution
(UNSCR) 687 requires the Government to "facilitate" the search
for and the repatriation of those still missing.  In his
October report, the Special Rapporteur noted that the
Government's failure to account for the missing persons
violates provisions of the various Geneva Conventions, to which
Iraq is a party.

Middle East Watch estimated that, apart from the tens of
thousands of persons who have disappeared and are presumed
dead, another 10,000 to 12,000 persons were being held without
charge in prisons and detention centers.

     c.  Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
         Treatment or Punishment

Although the Government is a party to international conventions
against torture, and the Constitution prohibits the practice,
the security services routinely torture detainees.  The Special
Rapporteur continues to note the Government's "systematic" use
of physical and psychological torture.  According to former
detainees, torture techniques include electric shocks
administered to the genitals and other sensitive areas,
beatings, burnings with hot irons, suspension from ceiling
fans, dripping acid on the skin, rape, breaking of limbs,
denial of food and water, and threats to rape or otherwise harm
relatives.  The tormentors kill many torture victims and
mutilate their bodies before delivering them to the victims'
families.

The authorities introduced new forms of torture in September,
including the amputation of ears and the branding of foreheads
for certain economic crimes and for desertion from the
military.  Large numbers of persons reportedly bled to death
from such punishments.  Opposition media reported that the
regime's use of ear amputations sparked a large antiregime
demonstration in Mosul on September 8.  Opposition media also
reported that the authorities executed several doctors who had
refused to carry out the amputations.

The regime also introduced the traditional Islamic law
punishment for thievery--amputation of the right hand.  It
subsequently stipulated branding of the forehead as the
punishment for thieves whose hands already had been amputated
and the death penalty for certain categories of thievery.  An
official newspaper reported on September 9 that the authorities
amputated the right hand and branded the forehead of a person
convicted of stealing a television set.

In his October report, the Special Rapporteur condemned the
amputations and brandings.  He stated that the practices
constitute "flagrant and determined violations of Iraq's
international human rights obligations insofar as they
prescribe cruel and unusual punishments and insofar as
implementation of the decrees compounds these violations by the
conduct of torture."  The relevant obligation in this regard is
Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, to which Iraq is a party.  The U.N. General Assembly
likewise condemned what it termed "mutilations" in a December
resolution.

Certain prisons are notorious for routine mistreatment of
prisoners.  Al-Rashidiya Prison, on the Tigris River north of
Taji, reportedly contains torture chambers in its basement.
The Al-Shamma'iya Prison, located in east Baghdad, holds the
mentally ill and is reportedly the site of both torture and
disappearances.

The Al-Radwaniyah Prison (see Section 1.a.) is a former
prisoner-of-war facility near Baghdad and reportedly the site
of torture and arbitrary killings, including mass execution by
firing squad.  This prison was the principal detention center
for persons arrested following the civil uprisings of 1991.
Many persons taken into custody in connection with the
uprisings have not been seen since.  Middle East Watch
estimated in 1994 that the Al-Radwaniyah Prison holds between
5,000 and 10,000 detainees.

The Special Rapporteur, Middle East Watch, and AI cited the
Al-Radwaniyah Prison and the Abu Ghraib Prison, located in
Baghdad, as principal sites where torture and disappearances
continue to occur.  According to opposition reports, in late
1994 authorities at the Abu Ghraib Prison amputated the hands
of persons convicted of theft.

The security forces allegedly raped captured civilians during
the Anfal Campaign and the occupation of Kuwait and the Gulf
War.  The Special Rapporteur noted in his February report that
he had interviewed numerous women who continue to suffer severe
depression after they were raped in official custody.  The
Government has never acknowledged or taken any action to
investigate reports of rape by its officials.

Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq also employed torture.  AI
reported in 1994 that these authorities and Kurdish opposition
groups used torture on political opponents and criminal
suspects in 1993.

     d.  Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile

Although the Constitution and Legal Code explicitly prohibit
arbitrary arrest and detention, the authorities routinely
engage in these practices.  In his February report, the Special
Rapporteur described "widespread arbitary arrest and detention,
in violation of Article 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights," primarily in the southern part of the country.  He
stated that the military and security services, rather than the
ordinary police, carried out most cases of arbitrary arrest and
detention.

Opposition sources reported in July that the regime had
detained 320 people during military operations in the Al-Amarah
marshes in June (see Section 1.g.)  The opposition conveyed the
names of the reported detainees to the Special Rapporteur.

The Special Rapporteur reported that the regime continued to
target the Shi'a Muslim clergy for arbitrary arrest and other
abuses.  In March international news media reported that the
regime had forcibly expelled from Iraq the families of the more
than 100 Shi'a clerics who had disappeared in 1991 after their
arrests with the late Grand Ayatollah aI-Khoei (see Section
1.b.).  Many of these clerics and their families are of foreign
nationality, primarily Iranian and Pakistani.

According to AI and Middle East Watch, several foreigners
arrested arbitrarily in previous years remained in detention.

The Government's refusal to allow tens of thousands of Kurds
and Turcomans to return to their homes in Kirkuk and Mosul
amounts to a policy of internal exile (see Section 2.d.).

     e.  Denial of Fair Public Trial

There are two parallel judicial systems:  the regular courts,
which try common criminal offenses; and special security
courts, which try cases involving national security.  However,
the security courts try many criminal cases.  The President may
override any court decision.  There are no checks on his
power.  The Special Rapporteur noted in his February report
that the executive interferes regularly in "all aspects of
normal judicial competence in matters ranging from property and
commercial law, to family law and criminal law."

The procedural rules applicable in the regular courts
theoretically provide many basic protections.  However, the
regime often assigns to the security courts cases which, on
their merits, would appear to fall under the jurisdiction of
the regular courts.  Trials in the regular courts are public,
and defendants are entitled to counsel--at government expense
in the case of indigents.  Defense lawyers have the right to
review the charges and evidence brought against their clients.
There is no jury system:  panels of three judges try cases.
Defendants have the right to appeal to the Court of Appeal and
then to the Court of Cassation, the highest Court.

The Special Rapporteur reported that the regular courts often
assign penalties that are "disproportionate" to the offense
(see Section 1.c.).  Decree 13 of 1992 imposes the death
penalty for automobile theft.  In 1994 the Government announced
the death penalty would be invoked for automobile smuggling,
various categories of thievery, and solicitation for the
purposes of prostitution.  As of late 1994, the penalty for
possession of stolen goods was life in prison.

Similarly, the Government shields certain groups from
prosecution for alleged crimes.  A 1992 decree grants immunity
from prosecution to members of the Ba'ath Party and the
security forces who may cause death while in the pursuit of
army deserters.  A 1990 decree grants immunity to men who kill
their mothers, daughters, and other female family members who
have committed "immoral deeds."

There are no Shari'a, or Islamic law, courts as such.  Regular
courts are empowered to administer Islamic law in cases
involving personal status, such as divorce and inheritance.  In
1994 the regime introduced Shari'a punishments for some types
of criminal offenses and for military desertion (see Section
1.b.).

Special security courts have jurisdiction in all cases
involving espionage and treason, peaceful political dissent,
smuggling, currency exchange violations, and drug trafficking.
According to the Special Rapporteur, military officers or civil
servants with no legal training head these tribunals, which
hear cases in secret.  Authorities often hold the defendants in
incommunicado detention and do not permit them to have contact
with their lawyers.  The courts admit confessions extracted by
torture which often serve as the basis for conviction.
Although defendants may appeal their sentences to Saddam
Hussein, many cases appear to end in summary execution shortly
after trial.

Because the Government rarely acknowledges arrests or
imprisonments, it is difficult to estimate the number of
political prisoners.  Many of the tens of thousands of persons
who have disappeared or been killed in recent years were
originally held as political prisoners.

     f.  Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
         Correspondence

The Government frequently disregards the constitutional right
to privacy, particularly in cases in which national security is
alleged to be involved.  The law defines security offenses so
broadly that authorities are virtually exempt from the legal
requirement to obtain search warrants.  In 1994 the authorities
subjected the Shi'a religious clergy, Shi'a Muslim inhabitants
of the southern marshes, and various ethnic minorities to
searches without warrants (see Section 1.g.).  The regime
routinely ignores the constitutional provisions safeguarding
the confidentiality of mail and telegraphic correspondence and
telephone conversations.

The security services and the Ba'ath Party maintain pervasive
networks of informers to deter dissident activity and instill
fear in the public.  As the Special Rapporteur noted in his
February report, "the fear of informers and subsequent severe
reprisals have prevented virtually the entire population from
expressing genuinely held opinions which are not consistent
with those of the Government."

     g.  Use of Excessive Force and Violations of Humanitarian
         Law in Internal Conflicts

In 1994 as in previous years, the armed forces conducted
deliberate artillery attacks against civilians in the southern
marshes.  The marshes historically have been inhabited mostly
by Shi'a Muslims, but in recent years they have also become a
refuge for army deserters and displaced civilians.  As a
result, the marshes are the site of guerrilla resistance.  The
Gulf War allies imposed a "no-fly zone" over southern Iraq in
1992.  It continues to deter aerial attacks on the marsh
dwellers, but does not prevent artillery attacks or the
military's large-scale burning operations.

Ongoing military operations have destroyed the traditional way
of life of the marsh Arab Shi'a.  Credible reports describe a
continuing process of large-scale environmental destruction in
the marshes caused by the Government's burning, draining, and
water-diversion projects.  The army has constructed canals,
causeways, and earthen berms to divert water from the
wetlands.  Hundreds of square kilometers of marsh areas have
been burned, imperiling the marshes' ecosystem.

The Government claims the drainage is part of a land
reclamation plan to increase the acreage of arable land, spur
agricultural production, and reduce salt pollution in the
Tigris and Euphrates.  However, the evidence of large-scale
humanitarian and ecological destruction appears to belie this
claim.  Aerial and satellite photography made public by the
U.S. Government in 1994 depicted the almost total destruction
of the marshes.  Moreover, the regime's diversion of supplies
in the south limited the population's access to food, medicine,
drinking water, and transportation.

As the marshes dried, military units launched land-based
attacks on villages.  On March 4, the military began the
largest search-and-destroy operation in the marshes in 2
years.  The offensive included the razing of villages and
burning operations concentrated in the triangle bounded by
Nasiriyah, Al-Qurnah, and Basrah.  The magnitude of the
operation caused the inhabitants to flee in several
directions:  deeper into the marshes, to the outskirts of
southern Iraqi cities, and to Iran.

According to opposition sources, military forces in late June
attacked several marsh villages in Nassiriya province.  Sources
said that army engineers burned the village of Al-Abra,
containing about 80 homes, to the ground.  After the operation,
the army transported the village's inhabitants from the scene.

According to opposition sources, security forces in early July
stormed the villages of Al-Sajiya and Al-Majawid in Al-Chibaish
district, near the main road leading into the marshes.
Simultaneously, armor units supported by heavy artillery
attacked the village of Al-Kheyout in the district of Al-Madina.

Also in July, the military conducted large-scale artillery
bombardment in the Jindala area of the Al-Amarah marshes.
Opposition sources said the bombardment destroyed several homes
and injured several individuals.  Security forces reportedly
detained 15 youths and transported them from the area.
Simultaneously, the military caused destruction and arrested
inhabitants in Al-Hashriya, Al-Wasdiya, and Al-Malha.

In September opposition sources reported that military forces
used incendiary bombs and launched an armored attack against
the area of Al-Seigel in the Al-Amarah marshes.  The army later
set fire to the entire area.

In 1994 military operations caused an undetermined number of
civilian casualties in the marshes.  More than 10,000 refugees
from the marshes fled to Iran, where they joined between 50,000
and 60,000 who had fled in previous years.

In January the European Parliament (EP) passed a resolution
characterizing the marsh Arabs as a persecuted minority "whose
very survival is threatened by the Iraqi Government."  The EP
resolution described the Government's treatment of the marsh
inhabitants as "genocide."

According to Middle East Watch and U.S. Government researchers,
government files captured by Kurdish rebels in 1991 contain a
military plan for the destruction of the marshes and the people
living there.  The plan appears to have been approved at the
highest levels of the Government.  It is being implemented by
Minister of Defense Ali Hassan Al-Majid, the military leader
who supervised the Anfal Campaign.

The Special Rapporteur continues to note the similarity between
the Government's "genocide-type operations" against the Kurds
and its operations in southern Iraq.  He stated in his February
report that the extent of violations against the marsh
inhabitants "places the survival of this indigenous population
in jeopardy."

In August the Special Rapporteur dispatched two of his
assistants to the Iran-Iraq border to interview refugees
fleeing the marshes.  He reported in October that the refugees
are generally in poor physical and psychological condition,
having suffered extreme deprivation of food and medicine.  He
reiterated his "concern over the survival" of the marsh
inhabitants "as a community."

Regarding the Kurds, the Special Rapporteur reported in
February that he also holds the Government responsible for
"serious breaches" of the 1925 Geneva Protocol on the
Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or
other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare.  He
observed that these breaches may demonstrate the Government
liable under the 1948 Genocide Convention.  According to the
Special Rapporteur, the activities of the Government during the
Anfal Campaign "left virtually no Iraqi Kurd untouched."  He
concluded that "serious violations of human rights committed
against the civilian population of Iraq both in times of war
and peace involve crimes against humanity committed under and
pursuant to the commands of Saddam Hussein and Ali Hassan
al-Majid."

The Special Rapporteur reported that he continued to receive
accounts of mass graves in southern Iraq.  Observers believe
these graves contain the remains of persons killed following
the civil uprising of March 1991.  As the Government does not
permit international visitors into these areas, forensics
experts have not yet investigated the grave sites.

However, forensics experts continued to develop information
obtained from mass grave sites in northern Iraq.  These graves
contain the remains of hundreds of persons presumed killed in
the Anfal Campaign.  According to opposition sources, a new
mass grave, containing up to 250 bodies, was found in April
near the Al-Sharqat district of Mosul.  Sources said that the
graves were discovered when heavy rains washed away the
covering soil.