Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Death sentence confirmed for Chemical Ali
Crime
(AFP) - A top Iraqi court has confirmed the death sentence on "Chemical Ali" and two other cohorts of Saddam Hussein convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity, a senior judge said on Tuesday. "The Iraqi Supreme Court has confirmed the death sentence on Ali Hassan al-Majid, Sultan Hashim al-Tai and Hussein Rashid al-Tikriti," the court head Judge Aref Shaheen told a press conference.
Majid, widely known as "Chemical Ali," was the executed Iraqi dictator's most notorious hatchet man, Tai was his defence minister and Tikriti was armed forces deputy chief of operations. The three were sentenced to death on June 24 after being found responsible for the slaughter of thousands of ethnic Kurds in the so-called Anfal campaign of 1988. They will be hanged within 30 days in line with Iraqi law.
An estimated 182,000 Kurds were killed and 4,000 villages wiped out in the brutal campaign of bombings, mass deportation and gas attacks known as Anfal. "Thousands of people were killed, displaced and disappeared," Iraqi High Tribunal chief judge Mohammed al-Oreibi al-Khalifah said after he had passed sentence in June. "They were civilians with no weapons and nothing to do with war."
Majid, 66, was the last of the six defendants to learn his fate in the Anfal case -- the second trial of former Saddam cohorts on charges of crimes against humanity since the fall of the feared regime in 2003. He muttered only "Thanks be to God" before being led from the court. He and the other two condemned men are currently on trial for their roles in brutally crushing a Shiite uprising in southern Iraq in 1991, but the charges against them will be dropped once they have been executed.
Saddam's regime said the Anfal campaign was a necessary counter-insurgency operation during Iraq's eight-year war with neighbouring Iran. It involved the systematic bombardment, gassing and assault of areas in the Kurdish autonomous region, which witnessed mass executions and deportations and the creation of prison camps. Saddam, driven from power by a US-led invasion in April 2003, was executed on December 30 for crimes against humanity in a separate case and charges against him over the Anfal campaign were dropped.
Over the course of the trial, which opened on August 21, a defiant Majid said he was right to order the attacks.
"I am the one who gave orders to the army to demolish villages and relocate the villagers," he said at one hearing. "I am not defending myself. I am not apologising. I did not make a mistake."
Iraqi Kurds were jubilant following the verdicts but plans to execute Majid in a Kurdish province have been dropped to prevent the hanging appearing as revenge, an Iraqi government official said. Human Rights Watch has expressed concern that the Anfal verdicts could be "flawed" as in the previous trial of Saddam over the killing of Shiites from the village of Dujail in the 198os.
Majid, widely known as "Chemical Ali," was the executed Iraqi dictator's most notorious hatchet man, Tai was his defence minister and Tikriti was armed forces deputy chief of operations. The three were sentenced to death on June 24 after being found responsible for the slaughter of thousands of ethnic Kurds in the so-called Anfal campaign of 1988. They will be hanged within 30 days in line with Iraqi law.
An estimated 182,000 Kurds were killed and 4,000 villages wiped out in the brutal campaign of bombings, mass deportation and gas attacks known as Anfal. "Thousands of people were killed, displaced and disappeared," Iraqi High Tribunal chief judge Mohammed al-Oreibi al-Khalifah said after he had passed sentence in June. "They were civilians with no weapons and nothing to do with war."
Majid, 66, was the last of the six defendants to learn his fate in the Anfal case -- the second trial of former Saddam cohorts on charges of crimes against humanity since the fall of the feared regime in 2003. He muttered only "Thanks be to God" before being led from the court. He and the other two condemned men are currently on trial for their roles in brutally crushing a Shiite uprising in southern Iraq in 1991, but the charges against them will be dropped once they have been executed.
Saddam's regime said the Anfal campaign was a necessary counter-insurgency operation during Iraq's eight-year war with neighbouring Iran. It involved the systematic bombardment, gassing and assault of areas in the Kurdish autonomous region, which witnessed mass executions and deportations and the creation of prison camps. Saddam, driven from power by a US-led invasion in April 2003, was executed on December 30 for crimes against humanity in a separate case and charges against him over the Anfal campaign were dropped.
Over the course of the trial, which opened on August 21, a defiant Majid said he was right to order the attacks.
"I am the one who gave orders to the army to demolish villages and relocate the villagers," he said at one hearing. "I am not defending myself. I am not apologising. I did not make a mistake."
Iraqi Kurds were jubilant following the verdicts but plans to execute Majid in a Kurdish province have been dropped to prevent the hanging appearing as revenge, an Iraqi government official said. Human Rights Watch has expressed concern that the Anfal verdicts could be "flawed" as in the previous trial of Saddam over the killing of Shiites from the village of Dujail in the 198os.
Labels: Ali Hassan al-Majid, Chemical Ali, death sentence, Human Rights Watch, Hussein Rashid al-Tikriti, Sultan Hashim al-Tai
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
As Brits leave Basra their Iraqi interpreters are left to a grissly fate
Humanitarian
(The Guardian) - Read the letters in full here
Britain was accused yesterday of abandoning 91 Iraqi interpreters and their families to face persecution and possible death when British forces withdraw. The Times has learnt that the Government has ignored personal appeals from senior army officers in Basra to relax asylum regulations and make special arrangements for Iraqis whose loyal services have put their lives at risk.
One interpreter, who has worked with the Army since 2004 and wanted to start a new life in Britain after British Forces pull out was told by Downing Street that he would receive no special favours and to read a government website. There is mounting evidence of a campaign by militants to target “collaborators” as British Forces prepare to leave. Hundreds of interpreters and other locally engaged staff working for the coalition have been kidnapped, tortured and murdered over the past four years.
Denmark has already made special arrangements to help its Iraqi staff and the Americans are set to accept 7,000 Iraqi refugees.
Armed with a glowing reference from his commander, Major Pauric Newland, stating that his life would be in danger once British Forces left, A Kinani made a personal appeal to Tony Blair, during his last visit to Iraq as Prime Minister in May. His letter was handed to Ruth Turner, a former No 10 adviser, and a reply was sent on June 22 by Nick Banner, a former foreign policy adviser, who informed Mr Kinani that he was not eligible for asylum. He suggested that he went to a third country and applied for a visa and advised him to look at a website for help. “This is cowardly,” Mr Kinani told The Times. “The British make us easy food near the lion’s mouth.”
Last month Denmark granted asylum to 60 former Iraqi staff and their families before its forces withdrew from the south. The US has said it will take in 7,000 Iraqis this year, including former employees. But Britain has so far refused to make an exception. The Ministry of Defence and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said yesterday that Iraqi employees would receive no special help in applying for asylum.
“Anyone who is seeking to apply for refugee status must do so from within the United Kingdom. There is no exception to that,” said a Home Office spokesman. “Their cases will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis against the criteria of the 1951 Refugee Convention.” Senior politicians and serving officers have appealed to the Government to reconsider and there are hints that some ministers are in favour of resettling former Iraqi employees. One senior British officer in Iraq also hinted that Whitehall was beginning to feel the pressure for a U-turn.
William Hague, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, said: “Britain has benefited from the services of these Iraqis in carrying out our responsibilities in Iraq. As Britain reduces its military presence in Iraq, we ought to look to the safety of those who have risked their lives to help us.” David Winnick, a senior Labour MP, said: “I would hope that the authorities here would be no less generous than the Danes.” The British position was criticised yesterday by human rights groups. Tom Porteous, the director of Human Rights Watch in the UK, said that the Government should reverse its policy.
Britain was accused yesterday of abandoning 91 Iraqi interpreters and their families to face persecution and possible death when British forces withdraw. The Times has learnt that the Government has ignored personal appeals from senior army officers in Basra to relax asylum regulations and make special arrangements for Iraqis whose loyal services have put their lives at risk.
One interpreter, who has worked with the Army since 2004 and wanted to start a new life in Britain after British Forces pull out was told by Downing Street that he would receive no special favours and to read a government website. There is mounting evidence of a campaign by militants to target “collaborators” as British Forces prepare to leave. Hundreds of interpreters and other locally engaged staff working for the coalition have been kidnapped, tortured and murdered over the past four years.
Denmark has already made special arrangements to help its Iraqi staff and the Americans are set to accept 7,000 Iraqi refugees.
Armed with a glowing reference from his commander, Major Pauric Newland, stating that his life would be in danger once British Forces left, A Kinani made a personal appeal to Tony Blair, during his last visit to Iraq as Prime Minister in May. His letter was handed to Ruth Turner, a former No 10 adviser, and a reply was sent on June 22 by Nick Banner, a former foreign policy adviser, who informed Mr Kinani that he was not eligible for asylum. He suggested that he went to a third country and applied for a visa and advised him to look at a website for help. “This is cowardly,” Mr Kinani told The Times. “The British make us easy food near the lion’s mouth.”
Last month Denmark granted asylum to 60 former Iraqi staff and their families before its forces withdrew from the south. The US has said it will take in 7,000 Iraqis this year, including former employees. But Britain has so far refused to make an exception. The Ministry of Defence and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said yesterday that Iraqi employees would receive no special help in applying for asylum.
“Anyone who is seeking to apply for refugee status must do so from within the United Kingdom. There is no exception to that,” said a Home Office spokesman. “Their cases will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis against the criteria of the 1951 Refugee Convention.” Senior politicians and serving officers have appealed to the Government to reconsider and there are hints that some ministers are in favour of resettling former Iraqi employees. One senior British officer in Iraq also hinted that Whitehall was beginning to feel the pressure for a U-turn.
William Hague, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, said: “Britain has benefited from the services of these Iraqis in carrying out our responsibilities in Iraq. As Britain reduces its military presence in Iraq, we ought to look to the safety of those who have risked their lives to help us.” David Winnick, a senior Labour MP, said: “I would hope that the authorities here would be no less generous than the Danes.” The British position was criticised yesterday by human rights groups. Tom Porteous, the director of Human Rights Watch in the UK, said that the Government should reverse its policy.
Labels: asylum, Basra, British government, British military, FCO, Human Rights Watch, Iraqi interpreters
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
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
UNHCR conference on Iraqi refugees opens in Geneva
Humanitarian, International
A two-day conference sponsored by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Iraqi displaced persons opened in Geneva on April 17, international media reported. The UNHCR said it will urge the 450 participants from more than 60 governments and international and nongovernmental organizations to do more to help ease the refugee crisis, beginning with Great Britain. Some 1.9 million Iraqis are now displaced inside their country and up to 2 million others have fled abroad, making the refugee crisis the largest displacement of people in the Middle East since the conflict triggered by the creation of Israel in 1948, the UNHCR said. "But we certainly intend and hope that this conference will contribute to raising the awareness of the world to the humanitarian crisis that faces Iraq and Iraqi refugees as a result of the difficult security situation in their country," Radhouane Nouicer, the director of the Middle East and North Africa bureau of UNHCR, said. He noted that the conference will also address the need to protect Iraqi refugees from forcible repatriation, as well as bad treatment or hunger or deprivation by host states.
Amnesty International's briefing: Iraq: A deepening refugee crisis - Media Briefing
Human Rights Watch full report: Iraq: From a Flood to a Trickle - Neighboring States Stop Iraqis Fleeing War and Persecution http://hrw.org/backgrounder/refugees/iraq0407/
Labels: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, humanitarian, IDPs, Iraq, Iraqi refugees, Jordan, Syria, UNHCR
