ICRC meets with former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
Iraq, Politics, 2/23/2004

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) visited deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in US custody on Saturday, two months after his capture, an ICRC spokeswoman told reporters.

"Two ICRC representatives, including a doctor, visited the former President Saturday in Iraq and were able to stay with him long enough for a physical and mental evaluation," Nada Dumani said from Amman.

"In accordance with its rules, the ICRC is unable to give any indication about the condition of Saddam Hussein. The ICRC, following this visit, as in the case of all (Iraqi) prisoners, will report directly to the (US-led) coalition," she added. US forces captured the former President on December 13 hiding in a hole on a farm in a village close to his hometown of Tikrit, north of Baghdad.

US authorities formally gave the ICRC the green light to visit him on February 14. Top coalition spokesman Dan Senor confirmed to CNN that ICRC officials had visited Saddam, but that in the spirit of the Geneva Convention it would be "inappropriate" for him to comment further. The United States formally accepted January 9 that Saddam was a prisoner of war, angering the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, which was demanding he stand trial in Iraq for crimes against humanity. The ICRC oversees the Third Geneva Convention, an internationally-recognised and binding set of rules which guarantee minimum standards of treatment for prisoners of war and detainees, including the right to visits from its aid workers. It forbids physical or mental torture, or "any other form of coercion... to secure from them any kind of information whatever." Visits include checks on accommodation, food and health care as well as a prisoner`s treatment by guards. Red Cross workers also insist on carrying out a confidential interview with the prisoner, without the direct presence of guards or authorities, and out of earshot. ICRC officials and legal experts have repeatedly emphasized that the Geneva Conventions would not stop Saddam Hussein or any other Iraqi detainee facing trial on possible charges of war crimes. Some 6,700 security prisoners are being held by the coalition in Iraq. The ICRC visited about 500,000 detainees in 70 countries last year.

Previous Stories:
  UN rules out elections in Iraq before authority transfer; Al-Seistani representative calls for desolving municipal council in Karbala   (2/21/2004)
  Red Cross to visit Saddam Hussein very soon   (2/13/2004)
  Occupation: Saddam Hussein does not collaborate, wanted are 12   (2/11/2004)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search