§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports his Department has received concerning the Anfal campaigns in Iraq in 1987–88. [85626]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienThe Anfal campaigns have been well documented by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Tens of thousands of Kurds disappeared and hundreds of Kurdish villages were destroyed. The campaign included the use of chemical weapons where a single attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja killed up to 5,000 civilians and injured some 10,000 more.
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§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the evidential basis is for his statement on page 7 of the unnumbered document Saddam Hussein: Crimes and Human Rights Abuses of the allegation relating to caning of members of the national football team on the feet. [85560]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienIn our document "Saddam Hussein: crimes and human rights abuses" we report the allegation that Udayy Hussein ordered the national football team to be caned on the soles of their feet after losing a World Cup qualifying match. The Foreign Office has had direct confirmation from Abbas al-Janabi, Press Secretary to Udayy Hussein at the time of the atrocity, that the incident occurred. An Iraqi national footballer, Sharar Haydar Mohamad al Hadithi, not involved in this match, is reported as saying that the caning did take place. Al Hadithi is also reported to have said that he was repeatedly caned on the soles of the feet, dragged through a pit of gravel and ordered to jump into a sewage pit to ensure the wounds were infected after having lost a match in 1994. These incidents conform with other stories suggesting a pattern of abusive behaviour by Udayy towards Iraqi sports people, for example the account of an Iraqi wrestler, Amra Haliff, in a Channel Four Despatches programme, broadcast on 17 November.
In 1997 FIFA sent officials to Iraq to investigate these allegations. Although Iraq was cleared, individuals who later fled Iraq, such as those mentioned above, confirmed that the allegations were true.
§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to his statement on page 5 of his document, Saddam Hussein: Crimes and Human Rights Abuse, if he will name those who have had their ears cut off in Iraq. [85627]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienThe decree in 1994 called for the amputation of the outer part of the ear for those deserting the army of failing to join military service. The Iraqi regime itself acknowledges that it has pursued a policy of amputating ears. The Justice Minister, Shabib al-Maliki, said in an interview with Reuters on 18 January 1996 that a few criminals had had their ears amputated. The law was repealed at about that time. We do not have specific names. I will write to my hon. Friend further on this issue.