$Unique_ID{COW02120}
$Pretitle{385B}
$Title{Kuwait
Introduction. Human Rights Violations}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Amnesty International}
$Affiliation{Amnesty International}
$Subject{amnesty
international
kuwait
abuses
names
nationals
violations

}
$Date{1990}
$Log{}
Country:     Kuwait
Book:        Iraq/Occupied Kuwait Human Rights Violations Since 2 August
Author:      Amnesty International
Affiliation: Amnesty International
Date:        1990

Introduction. Human Rights Violations

NOTE ON SOURCES AND METHODOLOGY

     This document has been compiled principally on the basis of interviews
conducted by Amnesty International with scores of people who fled Kuwait
between August and November 1990. Most of these interviews were carried out in
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Kingdom, with a smaller number of people
in the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Iran also being interviewed. Most of
the interviewees are Kuwaiti nationals, but they also include Bahrainis,
Saudis, Lebanese, Egyptians, Palestinians, Indians, Filipinos, Britons and
Americans. Among them are former detainees, the families of victims of
extrajudicial executions and of those who have "disappeared", eyewitnesses and
medical personnel. Amnesty International has also relied on information
emanating from persons who have remained in Kuwait, and who include both
Kuwaiti and foreign nationals. In respect of some of the torture allegations
made, the organization has sought the medical opinion of forensic pathologists
and doctors in the United Kingdom with experience in the examination of
torture victims.

     All Kuwaiti nationals interviewed requested that their identities not be
revealed for fear of reprisals by Iraqi forces against members of their
families still in Kuwait. Some Western and Arab nationals have made the same
request, also fearing for the safety of their relatives or friends in hiding
in Kuwait or in detention in Iraq. Hence their names have either been omitted
altogether or, in some cases, changed in order to prevent identification. The
exceptions to this are: 1) several former detainees whose names are mentioned
in Section 3 of this document, and 2) the ten victims of extrajudicial
executions (and in some cases torture) whose names are cited in Section 6.
These cases have either already been submitted to the United Nations, or
authorization to reveal their names has been obtained by Amnesty
International. The names of over 1,027 other detainees and "disappeared"
persons received by Amnesty International are not being made public at this
stage.

1. INTRODUCTION

     Widespread abuses of human rights have been perpetrated by Iraqi forces
following the invasion of Kuwait on 2 August. These include the arbitrary
arrest and detention without trial of thousands of civilians and military
personnel; the widespread torture of such persons in custody; the imposition
of the death penalty and the extrajudicial execution of hundreds of unarmed
civilians, including children. In addition, hundreds of people in Kuwait
remain unaccounted for, having effectively "disappeared" in detention, and
many of them are feared dead. To date, an estimated 300,000 Kuwaitis have fled
their country, as well as several hundred thousand foreign nationals working
in Kuwait. Their accounts of the abuses they have either witnessed or
experienced have received worldwide media coverage. This document details some
of these abuses, confining itself to those violations which fall within
Amnesty International's mandate.

     Amnesty International takes no position on the conflict in the Gulf, and
does not condone killings and other acts of violence perpetrated by the
parties to the conflict. What concerns the organization are human rights
violations taking place in that context. Those violations which have been
reported since 2 August are entirely consistent with abuses known to have been
committed in Iraq over many years, and which have been documented by Amnesty
International in its numerous reports. Iraq's policy of the brutal
suppression of all forms of internal dissent continues to be implemented, and
the people of Iraq remain its victims. Amnesty International has repeatedly
placed such information on the public record, and regrets that until the
invasion of Kuwait, the international community did not see fit to apply
serious pressure in an attempt to put an end to these abuses.