Mass executions, prisoner torture, beheadings, amputations...

Mass executions, prisoner torture, beheadings, amputations and disappearances in Iraq make up the chilling content of The death penalty and more under Saddam Hussein, a dossier compiled by Hands Off Cain released in Rome.
The dossier, containing advance excerpts from the annual report by Hands Off Cain The death penalty worldwide focuses on the use of terror to repress dissent and reinforce the power of the Iraqi regime.
"We are launching this dossier in advance because we feel that awareness of the human rights situation - in particular the widespread use of the death penalty - is an important element to consider in the current debate on the Iraq crisis," said HOC General Secretary Sergio D'Elia, who compiled the dossier.
The launch was attended by Italian Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs Margherita Boniver, the Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of the Italian Senate Enrico Pianetta, the promoter of the Free Iraq campaign MEP Marco Pannella, Senator Natale D'Amico, Italian MP Antonio Maccanico, and Report Editor Elisabetta Zamparutti.
The use of the death penalty in Iraq has been increasingly extended since the taking of power by the Baath party in 1968 and since 1979, when Saddam Hussein became president. The latest death penalty decrees - reportedly issued in February 2003 by the military bureau of the ruling Baath party and signed by Saddam Hussein's younger son Qusay - prescribe the death penalty for offences committed by Air Defence Force personnel in wartime.
However it is difficult to distinguish between judicial and extra-judicial executions in Iraq, HOC Report editor Elisabetta Zamparutti said. Hands Off Cain counted 214 executions in 2002 through reports by various Iraqi media and opposition sources. In 2001, the total was 179. These totals do not take into account mass executions reported by dissidents.
According to the dossier "all traces of at least 200, 000 people, arrested by Saddam's regime have been lost. Many are believed to have been executed and buried in secret places. In cases where the bodies are returned to the families, all funeral rites are forbidden."
The report, compiled through various sources, says that in Iraq's northern Kurdish region, 100,000 Kurds were killed or disappeared in 1987-88 alone. In October 2002, Iraqi human rights activists denounced the disappearance of thousands of Fayli Kurds, estimated between 7,000 to 10,000 and Kuwait accused Iraq of withholding information concerning over 600 Kuwaitis and citizens of other countries who disappeared during the 1991 Gulf War.