US-Backed Iraqi Abuses Revealed on Eve of Election

Times Online

THE Iraqi Government stands accused today of some of the same human rights abuses as Saddam Hussein’s regime, including the torture of prisoners, illegally detaining suspects and arresting political opponents.

A Human Rights Watch report is likely to embarrass Iyad Allawi, the Iraqi interim Prime Minister, before the elections on Sunday. His party has vowed to respect human rights.

Most of the abuses were recorded in interviews with detainees. Of 90 prisoners questioned between July and October last year, 72 claimed that they had been tortured or ill-treated, the 94-page dossier says. They claimed variously to have been beaten with cables, hosepipes and metal rods; slapped, kicked and punched; bound and suspended in the air for long periods; and subjected to electric shocks to the genitals, ears and other sensitive parts of the body. Some of the victims were children.

Dr Allawi’s Government “appears to be actively taking part, or is at least complicit, in these grave violations of fundamental human rights”, the report alleges.

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