Iraqi torture dossier a 'cold manipulation of data'
A dossier of human rights abuses by the Iraqi regime was being released by UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw today - amid accusations that the data was being 'coldly manipulated' to build a case for war.
The report contains first-hand accounts by Iraqi victims of the regime’s human rights abuses, as well as intelligence material from aid charities working in Iraq.
Publication of the dossier was being seen as a further move by the British government to make the case for war if Saddam fails to comply with UN resolution 1441.
But Amnesty International accused the Foreign Secretary of a “cold and calculated manipulation” of the human rights situation in Iraq to suit the British Government’s own ends.
The report was being launched six days before Baghdad must submit a full declaration of its chemical, biological and nuclear weapons or face “serious consequences” under the UN resolution.
A team of UN weapons inspectors has been in Iraq for five days examining suspected arms sites.
The British Foreign Secretary was expected to say that by disarming Iraq, “we not only help those countries in the region which are subject to Iraqi threats and intimidation, we also deprive Saddam of his most powerful tools for keeping the Iraqi people living in fear and subjugation.
“It is the most detailed account the Government has ever published about this, including intelligence material, first-hand accounts of Iraqi victims of torture and oppression, and reports by NGOs.
Amnesty International secretary general Irene Khan said: “This selective attention to human rights is nothing but a cold and calculated manipulation of the work of human rights activists.
“Let us not forget that these same governments turned a blind eye to Amnesty International’s reports of widespread human rights violations in Iraq before the Gulf War.
“They remained silent when thousands of unarmed Kurdish civilians were killed in Halabja in 1988.”
