UN reports (December 14th): The resumption of the death penalty in Iraq earlier this year is a source of great concern to the United Nations, according to the world body’s latest report covering the human rights situation in the country.
“It is of particular concern that many persons are convicted on the basis of confessions often gathered under duress or torture, while their right not to be compelled to testify against oneself or to confess guilt is often violated,” the report said.
“Until these violations are addressed, the imposition of the death penalty by Iraqi courts will remain arbitrary and contrary to the international human rights standards.”
The number of people receiving capital sentences has risen, with 324 death sentences having been handed down by the High Judicial Council in the first half of 2009. http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=33244&Cr=iraq&Cr1=human+rights
Wednesday, 23 December 2009
Sunday, 29 November 2009
More corporate rip-off
An interesting story from The Times:
Iraqis spent $80m on ADE651 bomb detectors described as useless
The Times reports (November 28th): The Iraqi parliament is looking into the sale by a British company of “bomb detectors” costing millions of pounds amid claims that they do not work.
In the past two years Iraq’s security forces have spent more than $80 million (£47 million) on the detectors made by ATSC Ltd, based in Yeovil, Somerset.
The devices, which consist of little more than a telescopic radio aerial on a black plastic handle, were each sold for the price of a new car and are in use at army and police checkpoints across the bomb-ravaged country.
The Iraqi parliament is scrutinising the purchase after an article appeared in The New York Times in which the American Major-General Richard J. Rowe Jr, who oversees Iraqi police training for the US, said: “I have no confidence that these work.”
Read more at:
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article6935574.ece
Iraqis spent $80m on ADE651 bomb detectors described as useless
The Times reports (November 28th): The Iraqi parliament is looking into the sale by a British company of “bomb detectors” costing millions of pounds amid claims that they do not work.
In the past two years Iraq’s security forces have spent more than $80 million (£47 million) on the detectors made by ATSC Ltd, based in Yeovil, Somerset.
The devices, which consist of little more than a telescopic radio aerial on a black plastic handle, were each sold for the price of a new car and are in use at army and police checkpoints across the bomb-ravaged country.
The Iraqi parliament is scrutinising the purchase after an article appeared in The New York Times in which the American Major-General Richard J. Rowe Jr, who oversees Iraqi police training for the US, said: “I have no confidence that these work.”
Read more at:
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article6935574.ece
Sunday, 22 November 2009
5th from bottom
Outo of 180 countries surveyed by Transparency International, Iraq comes 176th, one of the most corrupt states on the planet, just ahead of Afghanistan. Any connection?
Something to take action over
Iraq planning to hang up to 126 women by year's end
Seattle Post Globe reports (November 19th): Iraq is planning to execute up to 126 women by the end of this year. At least 9 may be hanged within the next two weeks. Human rights groups say the only crime committed by many of these women was to serve in the government of Saddam Hussein. Others, according to human rights groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, were convicted of common crimes based on confessions that were the result of torture.
Amnesty reports that at least 1,000 men and women are now on death row in Iraq, a country that has one of the highest rates of execution in the world.
Read more at:
http://seattlepostglobe.org/2009/11/18/iraq-planning-to-hang-up-to-126-women-by-years-end
Seattle Post Globe reports (November 19th): Iraq is planning to execute up to 126 women by the end of this year. At least 9 may be hanged within the next two weeks. Human rights groups say the only crime committed by many of these women was to serve in the government of Saddam Hussein. Others, according to human rights groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, were convicted of common crimes based on confessions that were the result of torture.
Amnesty reports that at least 1,000 men and women are now on death row in Iraq, a country that has one of the highest rates of execution in the world.
Read more at:
http://seattlepostglobe.org/2009/11/18/iraq-planning-to-hang-up-to-126-women-by-years-end
Sunday, 15 November 2009
Iraq back in the news
Iraq is back in the news this week - for all the wrong reasons. Firstly, Brirish troops are again under investigation for the abuse of detainees - including allegations of the horrific rape of a sixteen year old boy. The Independent reports:
): Disturbing graphic allegations of sexual and physical abuse of Iraqi civilians by British soldiers are among 33 new torture cases being investigated by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
The fresh claims include allegations that female and male soldiers sexually abused and humiliated detainees in camps in southern Iraq, prompting comparisons with the torture practices employed by US soldiers at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad.
In one case, British soldiers are accused of piling Iraqi prisoners on top of each other and subjecting them to electric shocks, an echo of the abuse at the notorious US detention centre that came to light in 2004.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/british-soldiers-sexually-abused-us-claim-iraqis-1820973.html
Secondly, The Guardian has a story about a fifteenfold rise in birth defects in Fallujah, which saw some of the worst aerial bombardment of the conflict:
Doctors in Iraq's war-ravaged enclave of Falluja are dealing with up to 15 times as many chronic deformities in infants and a spike in early life cancers that may be linked to toxic materials left over from the fighting.
Dr Bassam Allah, the head of the hospital's children's ward, this week urged international experts to take soil samples across Falluja and for scientists to mount an investigation into the causes of so many ailments, most of which he said had been "acquired" by mothers before or during pregnancy.
Other health officials are also starting to focus on possible reasons, chief among them potential chemical or radiation poisonings. Abnormal clusters of infant tumours have also been repeatedly cited in Basra and Najaf – areas that have in the past also been intense battle zones where modern munitions have been heavily used.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/13/falluja-cancer-children-birth-defects
And thirdly, there are real fears of a slide towards dictatorship, as these two stories indicate:
Reporters face violence as Iraq cracks down on media dissent
The Guardian reports (November 5th): Iraqis are fearing a renewed crackdown on dissent as a crucial national poll draws near, with several journalists claiming to have been beaten by security forces and ministers issuing warnings about media coverage.
Iraq's communications minister, Faruq Abd Al-Qadir, has introduced a $5,000 (£3,000) licence fee for all broadcast media outlets and ordered the staff of the 58 media and television stations operating in the country to apply for work permits.
The new rules come after a summer crackdown on internet access in which communications authorities warned service providers and internet cafes they would to block access to websites deemed to be offensive.
The tighter controls have also been interpreted as evidence of a creeping police state, in which some hard-won freedoms of the last six years are being rolled back.
Three journalists this week reported having been beaten by soldiers while covering routine security stories.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/05/iraq-government-warn-media
Iraqi Armed Troops Fire at Peaceful Demonstration in Baghdad
ICEM reports (November 2nd):ICEM received a report from the Federation of Workers’ Councils and Unions (FWCUI) that a workers’ demonstration in Baghdad was fired upon by armed forces. The demonstration and use of armed force occurred on 6 October near the Green Zone in central Baghdad. The report the ICEM received from the FWCUI said many of the 2,000 protestors were hit with rubber bullets. The march on started at Al Tahreer Square, and crossed Al Jumhoria Bridge towards the Green Zone, where armed forces indiscriminately fired upon and beat demonstrators. Four workers were severely beaten and arrested.
http://www.icem.org/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3469-
): Disturbing graphic allegations of sexual and physical abuse of Iraqi civilians by British soldiers are among 33 new torture cases being investigated by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
The fresh claims include allegations that female and male soldiers sexually abused and humiliated detainees in camps in southern Iraq, prompting comparisons with the torture practices employed by US soldiers at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad.
In one case, British soldiers are accused of piling Iraqi prisoners on top of each other and subjecting them to electric shocks, an echo of the abuse at the notorious US detention centre that came to light in 2004.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/british-soldiers-sexually-abused-us-claim-iraqis-1820973.html
Secondly, The Guardian has a story about a fifteenfold rise in birth defects in Fallujah, which saw some of the worst aerial bombardment of the conflict:
Doctors in Iraq's war-ravaged enclave of Falluja are dealing with up to 15 times as many chronic deformities in infants and a spike in early life cancers that may be linked to toxic materials left over from the fighting.
Dr Bassam Allah, the head of the hospital's children's ward, this week urged international experts to take soil samples across Falluja and for scientists to mount an investigation into the causes of so many ailments, most of which he said had been "acquired" by mothers before or during pregnancy.
Other health officials are also starting to focus on possible reasons, chief among them potential chemical or radiation poisonings. Abnormal clusters of infant tumours have also been repeatedly cited in Basra and Najaf – areas that have in the past also been intense battle zones where modern munitions have been heavily used.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/13/falluja-cancer-children-birth-defects
And thirdly, there are real fears of a slide towards dictatorship, as these two stories indicate:
Reporters face violence as Iraq cracks down on media dissent
The Guardian reports (November 5th): Iraqis are fearing a renewed crackdown on dissent as a crucial national poll draws near, with several journalists claiming to have been beaten by security forces and ministers issuing warnings about media coverage.
Iraq's communications minister, Faruq Abd Al-Qadir, has introduced a $5,000 (£3,000) licence fee for all broadcast media outlets and ordered the staff of the 58 media and television stations operating in the country to apply for work permits.
The new rules come after a summer crackdown on internet access in which communications authorities warned service providers and internet cafes they would to block access to websites deemed to be offensive.
The tighter controls have also been interpreted as evidence of a creeping police state, in which some hard-won freedoms of the last six years are being rolled back.
Three journalists this week reported having been beaten by soldiers while covering routine security stories.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/05/iraq-government-warn-media
Iraqi Armed Troops Fire at Peaceful Demonstration in Baghdad
ICEM reports (November 2nd):ICEM received a report from the Federation of Workers’ Councils and Unions (FWCUI) that a workers’ demonstration in Baghdad was fired upon by armed forces. The demonstration and use of armed force occurred on 6 October near the Green Zone in central Baghdad. The report the ICEM received from the FWCUI said many of the 2,000 protestors were hit with rubber bullets. The march on started at Al Tahreer Square, and crossed Al Jumhoria Bridge towards the Green Zone, where armed forces indiscriminately fired upon and beat demonstrators. Four workers were severely beaten and arrested.
http://www.icem.org/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3469-
Monday, 12 October 2009
The thieves of Baghdad
very interesting piecein The Guardian about the legacy of the Occupation:
In the past month several high-profile incidents have highlighted what Major General Qassim al-Moussawi, the chief Iraqi military spokesman in Baghdad, described as the outbreak of "a frenzy of violent crime" in Iraq. Writing in the Times, Richard Kerbaj explained how "everyone is looking for a way to make a quick buck in Iraq, but none more so than the insurgents and gangsters". Indeed, present-day levels of crime in Iraq reflect the institutionalisation of criminality that may undermine the country's long-term development.
The disbanding of Iraqi security forces by the Coalition Provisional Authority included thousands of border guards, turning the country into a house without doors or windows. Smuggling – which had blossomed under sanctions – became rampant.
Iraq became a transit point in the flow of hashish and heroin from Iran and Afghanistan – the world's largest producer of opium poppies – to Gulf countries and Europe.
Corrupt security forces provide little break on crime, and children are being ransomed off for as much as £63,000. Children also find themselves the victims in prostitution syndicates. Time magazine reported earlier in the year that 11- to 12-year-olds were being sold into prostitution for up to $30,000.
More at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/oct/09/iraq-crime
In the past month several high-profile incidents have highlighted what Major General Qassim al-Moussawi, the chief Iraqi military spokesman in Baghdad, described as the outbreak of "a frenzy of violent crime" in Iraq. Writing in the Times, Richard Kerbaj explained how "everyone is looking for a way to make a quick buck in Iraq, but none more so than the insurgents and gangsters". Indeed, present-day levels of crime in Iraq reflect the institutionalisation of criminality that may undermine the country's long-term development.
The disbanding of Iraqi security forces by the Coalition Provisional Authority included thousands of border guards, turning the country into a house without doors or windows. Smuggling – which had blossomed under sanctions – became rampant.
Iraq became a transit point in the flow of hashish and heroin from Iran and Afghanistan – the world's largest producer of opium poppies – to Gulf countries and Europe.
Corrupt security forces provide little break on crime, and children are being ransomed off for as much as £63,000. Children also find themselves the victims in prostitution syndicates. Time magazine reported earlier in the year that 11- to 12-year-olds were being sold into prostitution for up to $30,000.
More at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/oct/09/iraq-crime
Sunday, 20 September 2009
US Sending 1,000 More Troops to Iraq
If you thought US troops were withdrawing from Iraq, the following amy be of interest:
Though the Iraq War has long since become an after-thought amid Obama Administration claims that the “drawdown” in on track, the Pentagon is reporting today that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has approved a request to send about 1,000 additional troops to Iraq. The latest report comes less than a week after it was revealed that the Pentagon has added thousands of additional contractors to Iraq, ostensibly to replace US troops during the drawdown.
More at: http://news.antiwar.com/2009/09/15/us-sending-1000-more-troops-to-iraq/
Though the Iraq War has long since become an after-thought amid Obama Administration claims that the “drawdown” in on track, the Pentagon is reporting today that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has approved a request to send about 1,000 additional troops to Iraq. The latest report comes less than a week after it was revealed that the Pentagon has added thousands of additional contractors to Iraq, ostensibly to replace US troops during the drawdown.
More at: http://news.antiwar.com/2009/09/15/us-sending-1000-more-troops-to-iraq/
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