§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Prime Minister if he will name the 10 Iraqi women to whom he referred in his oral answer to the hon. Member for Linlithgow, on 4 December; and what reports the Government have received on the circumstances of their leaving Iraq. [86430]
§ The Prime MinisterOn 2 December I met a group of Iraqi women who had suffered human rights violations by Saddam Hussein's regime. All the women had had direct experience of Saddam Hussein's brutality.
Some of the women present gave a press briefing on 21 November which highlighted the brutality of the Iraqi regime and drew attention to the plight of Iraqi women who have witnessed killings and other atrocities under Saddam's dictatorship. They also gave details on the circumstances under which they left Iraq. These were Safia Al Souhail, Fatima Bahr Al Ulum, Ala Talabani, Berivan Doski and Melina Bakoos. Because of the risk of reprisals against their families and friends in Iraq, it would be wrong to name those women who have not made their names public.