Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Human Rights Watch publishes report on torture in Kurdistan
Humanitarian
(AP) - Security forces in northern Iraq's Kurdistan, the heartland of the Kurdish minority long tormented by Saddam Hussein, routinely torture detainees with beatings and electric shocks and hold hundreds of prisoners for long periods without charge, a human rights group said Tuesday.
The Human Rights Watch report , based on interviews conducted from April to October 2006 with more than 150 detainees, demanded a comprehensive overhaul of detention practices in the Kurdish region and urged an independent body to investigate torture claims.
"We are surprised that the Kurds are practicing such violations after they were victims of torture during the Saddam era," Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director for Human Rights Watch, said, referring to the ousted Iraqi leader's oppression of the Kurds.
"We appreciate the efforts by Kurdistan government to combat terrorism and secure Kurdistan, but we see that such violations against prisoners are not a good thing," she told a press conference in the northern city of Irbil.
Brig. Gen. Seif-Eddine Ali, head of security for one of the two major Kurdish parties, said the report was "inaccurate" and the findings out-of-date. "I call on the group to come and see the prisons and speak with the prisoners," Ali said. "The Human Rights Watch report is old and there have been improvements on all sides."
But Mohammed Faraj, a lawmaker who heads the human rights committee in the Kurdistan region's parliament, said a parliament commission visited Kurdish prisons in April and found that "indeed there were violation. The Kurdistan government has a real and strong intention to work hard to solve this issue," he said, adding that the government released some 400 detainees held in security forces' prisons in June and that more were expected to be freed.
The Human Rights Watch report , based on interviews conducted from April to October 2006 with more than 150 detainees, demanded a comprehensive overhaul of detention practices in the Kurdish region and urged an independent body to investigate torture claims.
"We are surprised that the Kurds are practicing such violations after they were victims of torture during the Saddam era," Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director for Human Rights Watch, said, referring to the ousted Iraqi leader's oppression of the Kurds.
"We appreciate the efforts by Kurdistan government to combat terrorism and secure Kurdistan, but we see that such violations against prisoners are not a good thing," she told a press conference in the northern city of Irbil.
Brig. Gen. Seif-Eddine Ali, head of security for one of the two major Kurdish parties, said the report was "inaccurate" and the findings out-of-date. "I call on the group to come and see the prisons and speak with the prisoners," Ali said. "The Human Rights Watch report is old and there have been improvements on all sides."
But Mohammed Faraj, a lawmaker who heads the human rights committee in the Kurdistan region's parliament, said a parliament commission visited Kurdish prisons in April and found that "indeed there were violation. The Kurdistan government has a real and strong intention to work hard to solve this issue," he said, adding that the government released some 400 detainees held in security forces' prisons in June and that more were expected to be freed.
Labels: Brig. Gen. Seif-Eddine Ali, detention centres, human rights violation, Human Rights Watch, Kurdistan, torture
