Resources

Torture Routine in Kurdish Jails, Report Charges - IPS News report by Khody Akhavi, Washington DC, 2 July 2007. "Kurdistan's security forces, attached to the two largest political parties in the region yet out of the control of the government's Interior Ministry, routinely torture detainees and deny their due process rights, according to a report released by Human Rights Watch Tuesday ... ". Story refers to HRW's Caught in the Whirlwind report (available as PDF file).

Iraqi Kurdistan′s Downward Spiral - article by Kamal Said Qadir, published in Middle East Quarterly, Summer 2007. "Many Western commentators say Iraqi Kurdistan is a beacon of democracy in an otherwise uncertain Iraq. As much of the rest of Iraq descends into violence if not civil war, it is tempting for U.S. officials to point to the placidity of northern Iraq as a rare success. In many ways, Iraqi Kurdistan's progress since 1991 is remarkable. But while Kurdish officials and their growing coterie of U.S. consultants praise the region's progress, an increasing culture of corruption, nepotism, and abuse-of-power has both eroded democracy and, increasingly, stability. The backsliding is disappointing given once high hopes."

Caught in the Whirlwind - Torture and Denial of Due Process by the Kurdish Security. Report by Human Rights Watch Iraqi Kurdistan, published in July 2007. Available as PDF file.. "Security forces known as Asayish operate in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, attached to the two dominant political parties in the region, and outside the control of the regional government's Ministry of Interior. The Asayish have held hundreds of detainees, particularly those arrested on suspicion of terrorism-related offenses, without due process, for up to five years in some cases. Detainees have reported that torture or other ill-treatment during the initial period of detention were routine and commonplace in facilities under Asayish authority. This report details Human Rights Watch's concerns regarding the right to due process and conditions of detention for persons held in the custody of the Asayish. The report is based on research conducted in the Kurdistan region from April to October 2006."

US and Britain don′t care as long as the oil keeps on flowing - article in the Slough Express, 31 March 2006. "Local photographer Gary Trotter tells of the authorities' refusal to aif his imprisoned friend and colleague in Iraq."

Beyond Abu Ghraib: detention and torture in Iraq - report by Amnesty International, published 6 March 2006.

State Department cable details ethnic cleansing by US-backed forces in Iraq. - "US-backed Kurdish police and security units have kidnapped hundreds of minority Arabs and Turkmen in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, according to a confidential State Department cable leaked to the Washington Post. News story by Patrick Martin, originally published in the Washington Post, 16 June 2005.

Kurdish Officials Sanction Abductions in Kirkuk - U.S. Memo Says Arabs, Turkmens Secretly Sent to the North. Article in the Washington Post, 15 June 2005, by Steve Fainaru and Anthony Shadid. "KIRKUK, Iraq -- Police and security units, forces led by Kurdish political parties and backed by the U.S. military, have abducted hundreds of minority Arabs and Turkmens in this intensely volatile city and spirited them to prisons in Kurdish-held northern Iraq, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials, government documents and families of the victims ... "