Whitehouse Press Release:
Saddam Hussein’s Repression of the Iraqi People: a Decade of Deception
(2002)
Saddam Hussein's Repression
of the Iraqi People
United Nations Security
Council Resolution 688 (April 5, 1991) "condemns" Saddam Hussein's repression of
the Iraqi civilian population -- "the consequences of which threaten
international peace and security." UNSCR 688 also requires Saddam Hussein to end
his repression of the Iraqi people and to allow immediate access to
international humanitarian organizations to help those in need of assistance.
Saddam Hussein has repeatedly violated these provisions and has: expanded his
violence against women and children; continued his horrific torture and
execution of innocent Iraqis; continued to violate the basic human rights of the
Iraqi people and has continued to control all sources of information (including
killing more than 500 journalists and other opinion leaders in the past decade).
Saddam Hussein has also harassed humanitarian aid workers; expanded his crimes
against Muslims; he has withheld food from families that fail to offer their
children to his regime; and he has continued to subject Iraqis to unfair
imprisonment….
Torture
-
Iraqi security services routinely and systematically torture detainees.
According to former prisoners, torture techniques included branding, electric
shocks administered to the genitals and other areas, beating, pulling out of
fingernails, burning with hot irons and blowtorches, suspension from rotating
ceiling fans, dripping acid on the skin, rape, breaking of limbs, denial of
food and water, extended solitary confinement in dark and extremely small
compartments, and threats to rape or otherwise harm family members and
relatives. Evidence of such torture often was apparent when security forces
returned the mutilated bodies of torture victims to their families.
-
According to a report received by the UN Special Rapporteur in 1998, hundreds
of Kurds and other detainees have been held without charge for close to two
decades in extremely harsh conditions, and many of them have been used as
subjects in Iraq's
illegal experimental chemical and biological weapons programs.
- In
2000, the authorities reportedly introduced tongue amputation as a punishment
for persons who criticize Saddam Hussein or his family, and on July 17,
government authorities reportedly amputated the tongue of a person who
allegedly criticized Saddam Hussein. Authorities reportedly performed the
amputation in front of a large crowd. Similar tongue amputations also
reportedly occurred.
-
Refugees fleeing to
Europe often reported
instances of torture to receiving governments, and displayed scars and
mutilations to substantiate their claims.
- In
August 2001 Amnesty International released a report entitled Iraq --
Systematic Torture of Political Prisoners, which detailed the systematic
and routine use of torture against suspected political opponents and,
occasionally, other prisoners. Amnesty International also reports "Detainees
have also been threatened with bringing in a female relative, especially the
wife or the mother, and raping her in front of the detainee. Some of these
threats have been carried out…."