Iraq human rights report
Iraq, Culture, 3/16/2001

A report by the US government on human rights describe the current various conditions in Iraq. Here are some excerpts from the report.

Political power in Iraq lies exclusively in a repressive one-party apparatus dominated by Saddam Hussein and members of his extended family.

The provisional Constitution of 1968 stipulates that the Arab Ba'th 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 Ba'th Party, wields decisive power. Saddam Hussein and his regime continued to refer to an October 1995 nondemocratic "referendum" on his presidency, in which he received 99.96 percent of the vote. This "referendum" included neither secret ballots nor opposing candidates, and many credible reports indicated that voters feared possible reprisal for a dissenting vote.

Civil uprisings have occurred in recent years, especially in the north and the south. The Government has reacted with extreme repression against those who oppose or even question it. The judiciary is not independent, and the President may override any court decision.

The security forces play a central role in maintaining the environment of intimidation and fear on which government power rests. Security forces committed widespread, serious, and systematic human rights abuses.

The economy was damaged by the Iran-Iraq and Gulf Wars, and Iraq has been under U.N. sanctions since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Sanctions ban all exports, except oil sales.

The Government's human rights record remained extremely poor. Citizens do not have the right to change their government. The Government continued to execute summarily perceived political opponents and leaders in the Shiaa religious community.

Reports suggest that persons were executed merely because of their association with an opposition group or as part of a continuing effort to reduce prison populations.

The Government continued to be responsible for disappearances and to kill and torture persons suspected of--or related to persons suspected of--economic crimes, military desertion, and a variety of other activities. Security forces routinely tortured, beat, raped, and otherwise abused detainees. Prison conditions are extremely poor.

The authorities routinely used arbitrary arrest and detention, prolonged detention, and incommunicado detention, and continued to deny citizens the basic right to due process.

The judiciary is not independent. The Government continued to infringe on citizens' privacy rights.


The Government restricts severely freedom of speech, press, assembly, association, religion, and movement. The U.N. Commission on Human Rights and the U.N. General Assembly passed resolutions in April and November respectively criticizing the Government's suppression of these freedoms.

Human rights abuses remain difficult to document because of the Government's efforts to conceal the facts, including its prohibition on the establishment of independent human rights organizations, its persistent refusal to grant visits to human rights monitors, and its continued restrictions designed to prevent dissent.

The Government committed numerous political and other extrajudicial killings. The Government has a long record of executing perceived opponents. The U.N. Special Rapporteur, the international media, and other groups all have reported a heightened number of summary executions in Iraq since 1997, assertions that are supported in detail by several sources in Iraq. The Special Rapporteur has stated that "the country is run through extrajudicial measures."

The list of offenses requiring a mandatory death penalty has grown substantially in recent years and now includes anything that could be characterized as "sabotaging the national economy," including forgery, as well as smuggling cars, spare parts, material, heavy equipment, and machinery.

The Special Rapporteur also noted that membership in certain political parties is punishable by death, that there is a pervasive fear of death for any act or expression of dissent, and that there are recurrent reports of the use of the death penalty for such offenses as "insulting" the President or the Baath Party."The mere suggestion that someone is not a supporter of the President carries the prospect of the death penalty," the Special Rapporteur stated.

Government killings occurred with total impunity and without due process.

The regime periodically executed large numbers of political detainees en masse. During the year, the Special Rapporteur continued to receive reports referring to a "prison cleansing" execution campaign taking place in Abu Ghurayb, Radwaniyah, and other prisons.

Opposition groups, including the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), the Iraqi Communist Party (ICP), the Iraqi National Congress (INC), and others with a network inside the country provided detailed accounts of summary executions, including the names of hundreds of persons killed. These executions included high-ranking civilian, military, and tribal leaders.

The Government reportedly does not investigate political or extrajudicial killings, and no investigations were made into the hundreds of killings committed by security forces in 1999, or in killings from previous years.
As in previous years, the regime continued to deny the widespread killings of Kurds in the north of the country during the "Anfal" Campaign of 1988. Both the Special Rapporteur and HRW have concluded that the Government's policies against the Kurds raise issues of crimes against humanity and violations of the 1948 Genocide Convention.

The Special Rapporteur continued to receive reports of widespread disappearances. The whereabouts of journalist and Baghdad professor, Hashem Hasan, who was arrested as he attempted to leave the country in September 1999, remained unknown at year's end.

The Constitution prohibits torture; however, the security services routinely and systematically tortured 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.

During the year, authorities reportedly introduced tongue amputation as a punishment for persons who criticize Saddam Hussein or his family. In September government authorities reportedly amputated the tongue of a person who allegedly criticized Saddam Hussein. Following the amputation, authorities reportedly drove him around in an open truck and broadcast his alleged crime and punishment.

Security forces also reportedly assault sexually both regime officials and opposition members in order to blackmail them into compliance. Former Mukhabarat member Khalid Al-Janabi reported that a Mukhabarat unit, the Technical Operations Directorate, uses rape and sexual assault in a systematic and institutionalized manner for political purposes. The unit reportedly also videotaped the rape of female relatives of suspected oppositionists and used the videotapes for blackmail purposes and to ensure their future cooperation.

Prison conditions are extremely poor. There reportedly are numerous official, semiofficial, and private prisons throughout the country. Overcrowding is a serious problem. In May 1998, Labor and Social Affairs Minister Abdul Hamid Aziz Sabah stated in an interview that "the prisons are filled to five times their capacity and the situation is serious." Sabah was dismissed from his post after the interview, and the government-owned daily newspaper Babel reiterated the Government's longstanding claim that it holds virtually no prisoners.

During the year, the Special Rapporteur reported receiving information about two detention facilities in which prisoners are locked in metal boxes the size of coffins that reportedly are opened for only 30 minutes each day. There also were reports that in Sijn al-Tarbout prison and Quortiyya prison, prisoners are fed only liquids. A multistory underground detention and torture center reportedly was built under the general military hospital building close to the Al-Rashid military camp on the outskirts of Baghdad. The Center for Human Rights of the Iraqi Communist Party stated that the complex includes torture and execution chambers. A section reportedly is reserved for prisoners in a "frozen" state--that is, those whose status, fate, or whereabouts are not disclosed.

Hundreds of Fayli (Shiaa) Kurds and other citizens of Iranian origin, who had disappeared in the early 1980's during the Iran-Iraq war, reportedly are being held incommunicado at the Abu Ghurayb prison. According to a report received by the Special Rapporteur in 1998, such persons have been detained without charge for close to 2 decades in extremely harsh conditions.

The Government does not permit visits by human rights monitors.

The Constitution and the Legal Code explicitly prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, the authorities routinely engaged in these practices. The Special Rapporteur continued to receive reports of widespread arbitrary arrest and detention, often for long periods of time, without access to a lawyer or the courts.

The Government reportedly targets the Shi'a Muslim community for arbitrary arrest and other abuses. Security forces arrested hundreds of persons in al-Najaf, Karbala, and the Shiaa section of Baghdad following an anonymous distribution of antigovernment leaflets.

Although no statistics are available, observers estimate the number of political detainees to be in the tens of thousands, some of whom have been held for decades.


The Government announced in June 1999 a general amnesty for Iraqis who had left the country illegally or were exiled officially for a specified period of time but failed to return after the period of exile expired. No citizens are known to have returned to the country based upon this amnesty. An estimated 1 to 2 million self-exiled citizens reportedly remain fearful of returning to the country.

The judiciary is not independent, and there is no check on the President's power to override any court decision. In 1999 the Special Rapporteur and international human rights groups observed that the repressive nature of the political and legal systems precludes application of the rule of law. Numerous laws lend themselves to continued repression, and the Government uses extrajudicial methods to extract confessions or coerce cooperation with the regime.

The Government shields certain groups from prosecution for alleged crimes. For example, a 1990 decree grants immunity to men who commit "honor crimes," a violent assault with intent to commit murder against a female by a relative for her perceived immodest behavior or alleged sexual misconduct. A 1992 decree grants immunity from prosecution to members of the Ba'th Party and security forces who kill anyone while in pursuit of army deserters. Unconfirmed but widespread reports indicate that this decree has been applied to prevent trials or punishment of government officials.

The Government frequently infringed on citizens' constitutional right to privacy, particularly in cases allegedly involving national security. The law defines security offenses so broadly that authorities effectively are exempt from the legal requirement to obtain search warrants, and searches without warrants are commonplace. The regime routinely ignored constitutional provisions designed to protect the confidentiality of mail, telegraphic correspondence, and telephone conversations.

The security services and the Ba'th Party maintain pervasive networks of informers to deter dissident activity and instill fear in the public.

Following the February 1999 killing of Ayatollah Mohammad Sadeq Al-Sadr and his sons, there were widespread reports of military assaults on protesters in areas of Baghdad heavily populated by Shiaa, and in cities with a Shi'a majority such as Karbala, Nasiriyah, Najaf, and Basra, in which hundreds of persons were killed. While a funeral for Al-Sadr was prohibited, spontaneous gatherings of mourners took place in the days after his death.For example, in the Shi'a district of Al-Thawra in Baghdad, a crowd of tens of thousands was attacked by government security forces using automatic weapons and armored vehicles. The attack resulted in the deaths of approximately 25 mourners (although estimates range up to 400) including, according to one report, the imam of the Al-Thawra mosque. According to Shi'a sources, martial law was declared throughout the region in reaction to the Al-Sadr killing.

Landmines in the north, mostly planted by the Government before 1991, continued to kill and maim civilians. Many of the mines were laid during the Iran-Iraq War; however, the army failed to clear them before it abandoned the area. The mines appear to have been planted haphazardly in civilian areas. Landmines also are a problem along the Iraq-Iran border throughout the central and southern areas in the country.

The Constitution provides for freedom of speech and of the press "in compliance with the revolutionary, national, and progressive trend;" however, in practice the Government does not permit freedom of speech or of the press, and does not tolerate political dissent in areas under its control.

In November the U.N. General Assembly criticized the Government's "suppression of freedom of thought, expression, information, association, and assembly."

The Government does not respect academic freedom and exercises strict control over academic publications. University staff are hired and fired depending on their support for the Government.

The Constitution provides for freedom of assembly; however, the Government restricts this right in practice.

The Constitution provides for freedom of association; however, the Government restricts this right in practice. The Government controls the establishment of political parties, regulates their internal affairs, and monitors their activities.

The Constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, the Government severely restricts this right in practice. Islam is the official state religion.
The Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs monitors places of worship, appoints the clergy, approves the building and repair of all places of worship, and approves the publication of all religious literature.

There are religious qualifications for government office; candidates for the National Assembly, for example, "must believe in God"

Although Shi'a Arabs are the largest religious group, Sunni Arabs traditionally have dominated economic and political life. Sunni Arabs are at a distinct advantage in all areas of secular life, including civil, political, military, and economic. Shi'a and Sunni Arabs are not distinct ethnically. Shi'a Arabs have supported an independent country alongside Sunni Arabs since the 1920 Revolt, many joined the Ba'th Party, and Shi'a formed the core of the army in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War.


The Government has for decades conducted a brutal campaign of murder, summary execution, and protracted arbitrary arrest against the religious leaders and followers of the majority Shiaa Muslim population. Despite nominal legal protection of religious equality, the regime has repressed severely the Shi'a clergy and those who follow the Shi'a faith.

Forces from the Mukhabarat, General Security (Amn Al-Amm), the Military Bureau, Saddam's Commandos (Fedayeen Saddam), and the Ba'th Party have killed senior Shi'a clerics, desecrated Shi'a mosques and holy sites (particularly in the aftermath of the 1991 civil uprising), arrested tens of thousands of Shi'a, interfered with Shi'a religious education, and prevented Shi'a adherents from performing their religious rites. Security agents reportedly are stationed at all the major Shi'a mosques and shrines and search, harass, and arbitrarily arrest worshipers.

The Special Rapporteur and others reported that the Government has engaged in various abuses against the country's 350,000 Assyrian and Chaldean Christians, especially in terms of forced movements from northern areas and repression of political rights. Most Assyrians live in the northern governates, and the Government often has accused them of collaborating with Iraqi Kurds.

The Government imposes some repressive measures on Yazidis. For example, 33 members of the Yazidi community of Mosul, arrested in July 1996, still are unaccounted for.

The Government requires citizens to obtain specific government authorization and expensive exit visas for foreign travel.Citizens may not make more than two trips abroad annually. Before traveling abroad, citizens are required to post collateral, which is refundable only upon their return.There are restrictions on the amount of currency that may be taken out of the country. Women are not permitted to travel outside the country alone; male relatives must escort them. Prior to December 1999, every student who wished to travel abroad was required to provide a guarantor who would be liable if the student failed to return. In December 1999, authorities banned all travel for students (including those in grade school), cancelled spring and summer holidays, and enrolled students in compulsory military training and weapons-use courses.

In what appeared to be an effort to lure citizens living abroad back to the country, government radio announced in June 1999 an amnesty for teachers who left the country illegally after the Gulf War. Shortly thereafter the Revolutionary Command Council decreed a general amnesty for all citizens who either had left the country illegally or who had failed to return after the period of exile had expired. The decree stated that "charges of illegal departure, forging official documents towards this purpose, and disrupting public duties that were pressed before the issuance of this decree shall be dropped effective immediately." In October 1999, Justice Minster Shabib Al-Maliki announced that authorities may seize assets belonging to Iraqis living outside the country who did not return in response to the amnesty decree. A special ministerial committee was formed to track and monitor Iraqis inside the country who received money from relatives living abroad.

A November 1999 law placed additional penalties on citizens who attempt to leave the country illegally. Under the law, a prison term of up to 10 years and "confiscation of movable and immovable property" is to be imposed on anyone who attempts to leave illegally.

The Government restricts foreign travel by journalists, authors, university professors, doctors, scientists, and all employees of the Ministry of Information. Security authorities interrogate all media employees, journalists, and writers upon their return from foreign travel. In December 1999, Captain Ammar Yasir Mahyush and retired Major Jasim Muhsin Ala reportedly were executed for their attempt to flee the country in February 1999.

The Government does not provide first asylum or respect the rights of refugees.

Full political participation at the national level is restricted to members of the Arab Ba'th Socialist Party, who are estimated to constitute about 8 percent of the population.

Opposition political organizations are illegal and severely suppressed. Membership in certain political parties is punishable by death.

In 1991 the RCC adopted a law that theoretically authorized the creation of political parties other than the Ba'th Party. However, in practice the law is used to prohibit parties that do not support the President and the Government.

Women and minorities are underrepresented in government and politics. The law provides for the election of women and minorities to the National Assembly; however, they have only token representation

In the north of the country, all central government functions have been performed by local administrators, mainly Kurds, since the Government withdrew its military forces and civilian administrative personnel from the area after the 1991 uprising. A regional parliament and local government administrators were elected in 1992. This parliament last met in May 1995. The two major Kurdish parties in de facto control of northern Iraq.

The Government does not permit the establishment of independent human rights organizations. Citizens have established several human rights groups abroad and in northern areas not under government control. Monitors from most foreign and international human rights groups are not allowed in the country.

Domestic violence against women occurs but little is known about its extent.

In October security forces reportedly beheaded a number of women suspected of prostitution and some men suspected of facilitating or covering up such activities.

The Government states that it is committed to equality for women, who make up about 20 percent of the work force. It has enacted laws to protect women from exploitation in the workplace and from sexual harassment; to permit women to join the regular army, Popular Army, and police forces; and to equalize women's rights in divorce, land ownership, taxation, and suffrage.

The Government claims that it has enacted laws to make education for girls compulsory.

No information is available on the Government's policy towards the disabled.

Non-Arabs are denied equal access to employment, education, and physical security. Non-Arabs are not permitted to sell their homes except to Arabs, nor to register or inherit property. The Government continued to relocate forcibly the non-Arab population, including Kurds, Turkomans, and Assyrians living in Kirkuk, Sinjar, and other districts.

Trade unions independent of government control do not exist.

The right to bargain collectively is not recognized.

Compulsory labor theoretically is prohibited by law; however, the Penal Code mandates prison sentences, including compulsory labor, for civil servants and employees of state enterprises accused of breaches of labor "discipline," including resigning from a job. (end of excerpts).

For completeness, it should be noted that Iraq is in a state similar internally to a civil war with the government not having access to the southern and northern parts of the country where it faces armed and political opposition. Externally, the country faces incursions from Turkey, and does not have control of its airspace where the US and UK control a portion of it and commit military attacks against facilities and areas of the country. The country is under a strict UN sanctions regime that has caused the country enormous suffering at the social, economic, health and political level. It is clear that Iraq lives under exceptional circumstance and under an authoritarian regime. What is not made clear from the report and is needed for full understanding of some the problem and the solutions is the USA, the author of the human rights report, can be held in equal guilt for bringing about much of the current conditions in Iraq (active armed opposition, destruction of the middle class, creating a state of paranoia for the government to keep its methods etc.). The USA by its policy has done and continues to do extreme harm to Iraq and its people, and provides a highly suspect policy that extends this harm instead of adopting positive policies that truly encourages gradual internal and external reform.

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