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$Unique_ID{bob00392}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Kuwait
Chapter 3.    Arbitrary Arrests, Dentetion and 'Disappearances'}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Amnesty International}
$Affiliation{Amnesty International}
$Subject{kuwait
iraqi
detainees
international
amnesty
nationals
kuwaiti
arrested
iraq
detention}
$Date{1990}
$Log{}
Title:       Kuwait
Book:        Iraq/Occupied Kuwait Human Rights Violations Since 2 August
Author:      Amnesty International
Affiliation: Amnesty International
Date:        1990

Chapter 3.    Arbitrary Arrests, Dentetion and "Disappearances"

     Under the circumstances prevailing in Kuwait since 2 August, it has been
virtually impossible to estimate the number of people arrested by Iraqi
forces after the invasion. In the absence of any official figures from the
Iraqi Government, and its denial of access to detainees by any international
humanitarian organization, Amnesty International is not in a position to give
any precise figures. The organization has attempted to build up a general
picture of the situation through information provided by former detainees and
eyewitnesses, as well as through statistics provided by governments whose
nationals were transferred from Kuwait and held in Iraq. A number of Kuwaiti
sources estimate the number of detainees to be over 10,000, a figure which
cannot be substantiated in the absence of further information. By November
1990, Amnesty International had received the names of over 875 Kuwaiti
nationals said to be in Iraqi custody, both civilians and military personnel.
The majority are believed to be held in prisons and detention centres in
Iraq - notably at Basra, Baghdad and Mosul, and a smaller number in Kuwait
City. Among them are eleven Kuwaiti diplomats who were stationed at Kuwait's
embassy in Baghdad and its consulate in Basra at the time of the invasion.
Amnesty International has also received the names of 152 others, all Kuwaiti
men between the ages of 19 and 50 whose fate and whereabouts are unknown.
They include both civilians and military personnel who are presumed to be in
detention, although there are fears that some may have been killed or executed
by Iraqi forces. In addition there are hundreds of Western nationals
apprehended in Kuwait and who, as at 6 December, remained in detention in
Baghdad and in other undisclosed locations in Iraq and Kuwait.

     In the first days of the invasion, Amnesty International received reports
that hundreds of Kuwaiti military personnel were rounded up and held in
makeshift detention centres in Kuwait City. The detainees included members of
the armed forces, the navy, the police force and security forces. Those who
were not seized immediately after the invasion continued to be sought by Iraqi
troops, and in some instances were arrested from their homes. Numerous
eyewitnesses stated to Amnesty international that Iraqi army vehicles
patrolled residential areas, looking for the homes of military personnel. The
relatives of military personnel being sought were sometimes themselves
arrested and tortured during interrogation in order to reveal their
whereabouts. The majority of detained military personnel are reported to have
been subsequently transferred to Iraq. Official Kuwaiti sources estimate their
number to be between 6,000 - 7,000.

     Although the majority of those arrested were Kuwaitis, among the
detainees were also stateless persons living in Kuwait known as the `bidun'
[literally `without', ie. without nationality. They include Arabs from
neighbouring countries, some of whom have lived in Kuwait for over 25 years,
but neither they nor their children born in Kuwait had the right of permanent
residence and were denied basic political and civil rights]. Apart form
Western nationals who were rounded up and taken to Iraq [see below], the
detainees included Syrians, Lebanese, Egyptians, Bahrainis, Saudi Arabians,
Indians and Pakistanis. Arab nationals who were detained were largely from
those countries whose governments had adopted a position on the invasion of
Kuwait considered 'hostile' by Iraq. However, Amnesty International is aware
of several cases involving the detention of Jordanians (largely Palestinians)
who had refused to cooperate with Iraqi forces in Kuwait or who had been
suspected of opposition activities. In two cases brought to the organization's
attention, the detainees were reported to have been subjected to torture [see
Section 4 below].

     Also reported to have been arrested in the first days after the invasion
were scores of Iraqi exiles who had been living in Kuwait for a number of
years. According to Amnesty International's information, many of those
arrested are said to be Shi'a Muslims with suspected links to the opposition
group al-Da'wa al-Islamiyya (Islamic Call), membership of which has been a
capital offence in Iraq since 1980. The organization has received the names of
several of them, who were said to have been arrested in the Bnaid al-Gar
district of Kuwait City. Their fate and current whereabouts are unknown. They
are believed to have been taken to Iraq where they face continued detention
and risk torture and execution.

     The widespread arrest of civilians began to be reported in the second and
third weeks of August following, on the one hand, the emergence of an
opposition movement in Kuwait and, on the other, the adoption by Iraq of the
so-called `human shield' policy involving the detention of Western nationals.
According to reports emanating from people fleeing the country, groups of
Kuwaitis and other nationals seized weapons and ammunition stored in police
stations in several districts of the city, leading to sporadic armed clashes
with Iraqi troops which lasted several weeks. Among those who participated in
the armed resistance against Iraqi troops were said to be Egyptians,
Palestinians and other Arab nationals, as well as a number of Kuwaiti Shi'a
Muslims who had previously formed part of Kuwait's internal opposition. They
are said to include former political prisoners who, prior to the invasion, had
been serving terms of imprisonment in Kuwait Central Prison. The number of
civilian and military casualties on both sides resulting from these clashes is
unknown.

     However, opposition to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait also took other
forms. For example, in the second week after the invasion, leaflets calling
for continued opposition to the occupation began to appear in the streets of
Kuwait. These leaflets included al-Sumud al-Sha'bi (Popular Resistance) and
Sarkha (The Cry). Other forms of non-violent opposition to the Iraqi
occupation included the raising of the Kuwaiti flag; putting up photographs of
the Amir of Kuwait, Shaikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah and the Crown Prince,
Shaikh Sa'ad al-'Abdallah; writing anti-Iraq slogans on the walls; shouting
"Allahu Akbar" (God is Greater) from the rooftops; going out onto the streets
after curfew and, where possible, non-compliance with the various
orders issued by Iraqi forces. Among those arrested in August and September,
apparently for non-cooperation with the Iraqi Government, were former members
of Kuwait's National Assembly (parliament): Mubarak al-Duwaila; Khaled Sultan
al-'Issa, (also a member of the Islamic Heritage Society); Khaled al-Wasmi;
and 'Abd al-Karim al-Juhaidli (also a member of the recently formed National
Council). One of them, Khaled Sultan al-'Issa, was held for 29 days,
principally in Basra. According to information received by Amnesty
International, his beard was shaved  off and he was subjected to beatings and
electric shocks.

     Opposition to the occupation developed into a form of 'civil
disobedience' from mid-September, following the issuing of a series of
regulations by the Iraqi Government aimed at completing the 'Iraqization' of
Kuwait (see Section 2 above). The refusal to comply with such orders led to
the arrest of civilians who had not participated in any armed resistance
against Iraqi forces. Civilians were also arrested for non-compliance with
other types of regulations introduced in Kuwait, such as the ban on growing
beards which came into effect in the first week of September. Several men
interviewed by Amnesty International said they had been stopped at checkpoints
solely because they had beards, though none of them could offer a logical
explanation as to why that should constitute an offence. One 30-year-old
Kuwaiti entrepreneur who left his country on 16 September said:

" ... those who had beards were ordered to shave them off. Punishment for
non-compliance consists of plucking the beard with pliers or some other
unspecified punishment. Several arbitrary regulations of this kind have been
introduced, but they did not take the form of official decrees. The problem
for us was that we did not learn of these regulations until we encountered
troops at the checkpoints. They would inform us what the latest regulation
was, but by that time, it would be too late because we may have unwittingly
committed the 'offence' in question. I know of cases of people who have had
their beards plucked, including elderly religious men who traditionally wear a
beard."

     Amnesty International has received the details of several such cases,
involving the public humiliation of both young and elderly men and their
subsequent detention for refusing to shave. The Iraqi authorities in Kuwait
have themselves failed to explain why the growing of beards has been made
illegal.

     The following is a description of the general pattern of arrests as
described in a memorandum prepared by officials of the Kuwaiti Red Crescent,
dated 23 October:

     "The daily arrests and the attacks on citizens became [widespread].
People could not move about freely, even to carry out essential tasks, for
fear of being arrested or killed (or of disappearing). Raids on homes became a
daily occurrence, which people could expect at any time. The arrest and
torture of people was something which threatened every individual. Young men
were shot near their homes and in front of their families, and this method was
used by the occupiers to terrorize the people and to eliminate the young men
on the pretext that they worked in the resistance... there were no fair trials
for these people. On the contrary, the arrests, interrogation, torture,
punishments and killings were carried out in an arbitrary and whimsical
manner, decided upon by intelligence agents and others in the occupying
forces ..."

     According to reports received, in the first two weeks of the invasion
most arrests were carried out in the streets. In the third week, Iraqi forces
began entering peoples' homes more frequently. In some cases the intention was
not to carry out an arrest but to force individuals to return to work. A
lecturer in political science at Kuwait University, in her mid-50s, told
Amnesty International that Iraqi soldiers came to her home in the Sabah
al-Salem district on 25 August and insisted that she return to work. She
argued, pointing out that there were no students to teach. Here she continues
her story:

     "A few days later, on 28 or 29 August, they came back. This time they
searched the entire house. There were eight of them, carrying weapons, and
they arrived at eight in the morning. The children were still having
breakfast. They asked, "Do you have weapons? Do you have foreigners here?" We
said no. Before leaving, they threatened that if a single shot was fired from
our house they would blow it up. They were registering the names of all
foreigners in peoples' homes, including Indians and other Asians. They said
that if any of these foreigners escaped, they would arrest us and take us to
Baghdad."

     Kuwaiti nationals arrested from their homes were invariably taken to the
police station in the district where they lived. Some remained there
throughout their period of detention, while others were moved to different
places of detention in Kuwait City. Those detainees who were neither released
nor executed at that stage were subsequently transferred to Iraq. The vast
majority of police stations in Kuwait City have been used to hold detainees,
as have the Juveniles Prison (Sijn al-Ahdath) in the district of al-Firdos and
the Deportations Centre (Markaz al-Ib'ad) in the district of al-Shuwaikh. No
information has been received which indicates that Kuwait Central Prison
(al-Sijn al-Markazi) in the district of al-Sulaibiyya has been used since the
invasion to hold detainees. The prison is believed to have remained empty
since 3 August, when an estimated 1,500 common law prisoners and some 50
sentenced political prisoners fled. One of these former political prisoners
who subsequently fled to Iran told Amnesty International that much of the
prison had been destroyed through fire in the first two weeks of August.

     Public buildings as well as private homes have also been used to hold
detainees. They include the Muhafazat al-'Asima [City Governorate] building on
al-Hilali Street; the faculties of Law and Literature of Kuwait University;
government ministry buildings; Dasman Palace and Nayef palace; sports clubs
(such as the Olympic Club in al-Nugra and al-Kadhima Sports Club in
al-'Udailiyya; the building housing the Economic Development Fund (Sandug
al-Tanmiya al-Iqtisadi) in the district of al-Mirgab; and schools (such as
'Abdallah al-Salem Secondary School). The Iraqi Embassy building on
al-Istiqlal Street has also been used as a place of detention. Private homes
used for the same purpose have included those previously owned by members of
the ruling al-Sabah family. Military buildings used to hold detainees include
the Police Academy, al-Liwa' al-Sades military base on the al-Jahra' road and
the `Ali al-Salem base near the border with Saudi Arabia. Most former
detainees interviewed by Amnesty International who were transferred to Iraq
reported that they were taken to Basra. Although in many cases they were not
in a position to specify the prison or detention centre, some said they were
held in the Deportations Prison (Sijn al-Tasfirat) and the State Security
Prison (Sijn al-Amn al-Siyyasi). Others said they were also held briefly in
police stations in other nearby towns, including al-Zubair and Safwan. Several
thousand detainees are currently reported to be held in prisons in Baghdad and
Mosul, but Amnesty International has been unable to verify their numbers or
obtain information on their places of detention. Most are said to be military
personnel.

     A 27-year-old Kuwaiti office employee who fled his country in
mid- September told Amnesty International of a former detainee whom he spoke
to following his release:

     "As you know there is a shortage of food in peoples' homes. The
resistance would sometimes take food to the mosques, where people could go to
eat. A young man was arrested by the Iraqis in al-Shamiyyeh district. He was
carrying a leaflet distributed by the resistance, which said that `supplies'
were to be taken to the mosques and gave details of the plan. The Iraqis
probably thought that this meant military supplies rather than food. They
arrested the man and tortured him by breaking his ribs. He was 26 years old
and was arrested on Tuesday 11 September".

     A Kuwaiti journalist who fled his country on 20 August told Amnesty
International of an incident which took place in mid-August:

     "I know of the case of Khaled... [surname withheld by Amnesty
International], who worked as a telephone operator in the Kuwaiti army. He
lived in al-Sulaibiyya. He was arrested by the Iraqis with two others. He was
a 'bidun' and the other two were Kuwaitis. They were taken to Bayan police
station. They were arrested because they had raised the Kuwaiti flag on their
car. When we asked about them at the police station, the Iraqis told us that
Khaled was going to be transferred to Baghdad. But I saw him the following day
when he was released . He had marks all over his body from having been beaten.
He could not walk normally as he had been subjected to falaga for a prolonged
period...."

     A former detainee, a 31-year-old Kuwaiti, said that he was stopped at a
checkpoint on 23 September and accused of stealing his own car. He was held
for five days, initially in a school in the district of Salwa and later at
al-Shuwaikh Security Directorate (Mudiriyyat Amn al-Shuwaikh). According to
his testimony, he was slapped, punched and beaten with a hosepipe for one
hour, and threatened with the rape of his mother. He said he was interrogated
eleven times about opposition activities. Upon being released his car was
returned to him, stripped of everything inside it. Another former detainee, a
23-year-old labourer, told Amnesty International that he was arrested on 8
October:

     "The day before there had been an attack on Iraqi soldiers. The Iraqis
were stopping all cars and taking people away. I was told to board a bus near
the checkpoint, together with 12 or 13 others. The bus took us to Bayan
police station. I was held there for three days and interrogated about the
resistance. Then they took me to a school, where I was interrogated by two
officers and two soldiers. They applied electricity to my chest, head and
arms. I felt paralysed for nearly three days. They also poured an acid-like
liquid on  my back and used a pincer-like device which they placed around my
fingers and tightened. I was released one week later after my friends paid a
bribe."

     Among the children interviewed by Amnesty International was a 16-year-old
Kuwaiti boy, a student at al-Farwaniyya Secondary School. He was arrested on 1
October after violating the night curfew:

     "I was taken to al-Rabia police station and put in a cell with four
others. I was held for five days, and interrogated daily, usually at about
3pm. I was asked about my father, brothers and friends. During interrogation,
a second person would come in and punch me or beat me with a belt. Each
session usually lasted about half an hour. After five days my left arm was
marked with the letter H using a hot skewer. I was told that if I got into any
more trouble it would mean certain death. Then I was released and told to go
home."

     Incidents such as these, as well as the prevailing climate of fear, also
took their toll on the younger children. Here, a Kuwaiti housewife in her late
thirties who left the country at the end of August described to Amnesty
International one aspect of this:

     "As a result of these tactics, the children were in a permanent state of
fright. Many of them developed a stutter and could not talk normally. Others
began suffering from uncontrolled urination. We tried to cure their stutter by
taking them up on the rooftops with us where we shouted Allahu Akbar in
protest at the Iraqi invasion. At first the children had difficulty in getting
the words out, but we urged them to shout at the top of their voices. After
several attempts, some of them regained normal speech."

     The vast majority of former detainees interviewed by Amnesty
International stated that they were not brought before any judicial authority
throughout their detention period, and had remained in the sole custody of
arresting and interrogating officials. Almost all were held incommunicado and
were routinely denied visits from family, friends, lawyers or doctors.
Although some detainees were accused of specific offences, no `official'
charges as such were brought against them, even though in some cases the
interrogating officials informed them of the punishment `by law' for the
offences they had committed. For example, several of those interviewed had
been accused of 'illegal entry' into Kuwait (this pertained largely to
Kuwaitis who entered the country after the invasion, either to assist their
families in fleeing or to participate in the opposition against Iraqi forces).
In some of those cases, the detainees were informed that the punishment for
`illegal entry' was five to eight years' imprisonment. As far as Amnesty
International is aware, however, such punishments have not been codified in
law. At the same time, detainees accused of offences said to be punishable by
long term imprisonment have often been released within days or weeks. The
decision to release appears to be as arbitrary as the decision to arrest.
Amnesty International received details of the following incident from a group
of Kuwaitis reporting directly from Kuwait on 10 November:

     "In the district of al-Faiha' an [Iraqi] officer asked to enter the
cooperative society without standing in the queue. The young men from the
society told him to wait for his turn. In the evening the same officer
returned, accompanied by a number of soldiers. They took five of the young men
who worked at the cooperative society to the police station and charged them
with stealing cars belonging to the municipality. An order was issued to
detain them for 15 days in order to bring them to trial in Basra. But after an
offer of `presents' (a video and television) and the issuing of a letter from
the municipality confirming that the cars had been given to the cooperative
society, the young men were released."

     Of the scores of people interviewed, only four former detainees stated
that they had been brought before a judge, three of them in Iraq and the
fourth in Kuwait. A 23-year-old Kuwaiti student [name withheld by Amnesty
International] arrested in the third week of September in al-Salmiyya, stated
that he was held for eighteen days, first in Kuwait City and then in Iraq. He
had not been in Kuwait when the invasion took place, but had returned to hel8p
his family leave. He stated that he was tortured throughout his detention
period, including with electric shocks. After two days' detention in Kuwait
City, he was taken to Basra and held for one week in a place he described as
the 'offices of Iraqi intelligence'. Here he continues his story:

     "After that I was transferred by bus to an ordinary prison. The drive was
about 15 minutes. I was told I had to pay for the bus fare, which I did with
the little money I had on me. In the prison I was held in a large hall, where
there were hundreds of detainees. I remained in the prison for eight days,
and then 32 of the detainees were summoned for trial. I was one of them. We
were taken to another building which had a sign on the outside saying 'Basra
Court'. We sat in a waiting room, and then each of us was brought before a
judge individually. I didn't know whether he was really a judge, but the sign
on the door of his office said 'The Judge'. He wore civilian clothes. There
was also an officer in the room, taking notes. I was before the judge for
three minutes altogether. He asked me for my name and why I had returned to
Kuwait. The charge against me was entering the country illegally (when I was
first arrested I was accused of espionage). Then the judge asked me to sign a
statement, the contents of which I was given no opportunity to read. He
warned me that if I was caught again I would be executed. I was taken back to
the waiting room while the other detainees went through the same process.
When it was over, we were taken back to the prison where they gave us back
our identity documents and released us. A few of us took a taxi as far as
Safwan, and from there entered Kuwait."

     Another 23-year-old Kuwaiti [name withheld by Amnesty International],
formerly in the armed forces, was arrested at a checkpoint in al-'Ardiyya
on 12 August. He stated that one of his neighbours had informed Iraqi soldiers
at al-Firdos police station that he had hidden weapons in the basement of his
home. He was held in Kuwait City for ten days until his interrogators, a
captain and a first lieutenant, "said they would release me in exchange for a
television, a video machine and video cassettes. Another Iraqi soldier at the
station also told me to bring perfumes, a suitcase and a car tyre." Following
his release he left Kuwait for Saudi Arabia and then returned on around 4
September when he was arrested again with five other Kuwaitis who had entered
Kuwait with him. They were all held for six days in al-Jahra' police station
and then transferred to Basra, where they were taken to the Deportations
Prison (Sijn al-Tasfirat). The following is his account of what happened
later:

     "We were put in a cell measuring 4 x 3 metres where there were already
other detainees: nine Iraqis, two Syrians and four Jordanians. The Iraqi
detainees were wearing army uniforms. They had been accused of looting. The
two Syrians had been accused of carrying false car documents. We stayed there
for three days without being interrogated, but occasionally the guards would
show us other detainees who had been tortured, just to frighten us. On the
third day they took the six of us, together with the Syrian and Jordanian
detainees, to police headquarters in Safwan. We travelled by car, and they
asked us to pay the fare for the journey. We were told we were going to be
executed. [In Safwan] we were put in a cell where about sixty people of
various nationalities were held. A while later an Iraqi man appeared. He said
he was a lawyer and identified himself as ... [name withheld by Amnesty
International]. He said to us he could secure our release in return for 4,000
Iraqi dinars per person. None of us had asked for a lawyer. He had come of his
own accord, looking for cases. We said we had Saudi riyals, which the lawyer
said he would accept. He then advised us that when we were brought before the
judge, we should say that we had returned to Kuwait in order to look for our
sheep. At 6 pm that evening an Iraqi officer, known as Ra'ed, interrogated the
six of us. He asked us what we had to say to explain our situation. The lawyer
was present during the session. We repeated what he had instructed us to say.
At 7 am the following morning we were taken on foot to the court in Safwan.
The judge did not speak to us, but wrote something down and then informed us
that we were being released. The whole process barely lasted one minute. I
don't know what happened to the Jordanian and Syrian detainees. They were
still being held when we left."

     As mentioned earlier, it was not possible to determine in many cases the
reasons behind the release of detainees. However, three essential
preconditions appear to apply in most cases. Firstly, detainees are required
to sign statements declaring their allegiance to President Saddam Hussain and
the Iraqi Government, and their agreement to cooperate with the Iraqi
authorities (principally by acting as informers). Secondly, release was
invariably accompanied by the payment of bribes. Many former detainees and
relatives of detainees told Amnesty International that they had to pay sums of
money and provide certain goods requested by the interrogating officials. In
this regard, the goods most in demand have been television sets and video
machines, although, as the case mentioned above demonstrates, other requests
may be made. One 17-year-old former detainee said that his interrogators
offered him his release in exchange for an Indian or Filipino woman [see
Appendix A2]. Thirdly, detainees are required to provide detailed
information on themselves and their relatives, such as that described below by
a Red Crescent doctor released from detention on 11 October:

     "Upon release, the Iraqis asked us to provide detailed information about
our families. They wanted the names, addresses and professions of my own
immediate family, my brothers and sisters, my brothers-in-law and my paternal
uncles and their families. When all this information was written down, we were
made to sign an undertaking that if we talked about what happened to us,
members of our families would be harmed, and that the penalty was death. They
also asked us for information about any past political activity and any period
spent in detention. They even took down information on our educational
qualifications. The statement we were made to sign also said that all the
information we had provided was correct, and that if any of it proved false,
the penalty was death. We also had to undertake to inform the Iraqis of any
political crimes we heard about."

     A number of people interviewed by Amnesty International also stated that
detainees who had been badly mutilated as a result of torture were either kept
in detention, prevented from leaving Kuwait or executed. This appears to be a
more recent development, prompted in all likelihood by widespread media
coverage of human rights abuses being perpetrated by Iraqi forces in Kuwait.
The 17-year-old former detainee mentioned above, who was released in early
October, stated that just prior to release:

     "... they transferred us to Muhafazat al-'Asima where we were examined. I
hid the traces of torture on my body in order to avoid being executed, because
anyone who has clear traces of torture on his body or is suffering from
permanent damage is executed."

     Families were given no official notification of the arrest, place of
detention and subsequent movement of detainees, and had to obtain such
information through their own efforts. During the first two weeks of the
invasion, relatives of detainees routinely enquired about them with Iraqi
military personnel who had taken charge of the local police stations. In some
instances, the families were told that the detainees had been transferred to
Iraq, and that all further enquiries should be made to the authorities there.
However, in the vast majority of cases, Iraqi forces denied having the
detainees in their custody. Those arrested had therefore effectively
"disappeared" in detention, and their families remained ignorant of their
fate and whereabouts until they had either been released or executed. In the
latter case, the bodies of the victims would either be found in the streets
of Kuwait City, or else dumped outside their homes [see section 6].

     As incidents of arrests and killings multiplied from mid-August, the
families of those who had "disappeared" became increasingly reluctant to make
enquiries about them for fear of being arrested themselves. A 31-year-old
Kuwaiti doctor told Amnesty International of one such case:

     "The young man [a Kuwaiti, name withheld by Amnesty International] went
to enquire about his cousin who was held in al-Rigga police station. When he
kept insisting he was taken inside the police station. He was stripped of his
clothes and told to pray. When he kneeled down they started kicking and
beating him. He was suspended from a fan for several hours and was told to sit
on a bottle. He was released several days later with a message to everyone,
that this is the punishment for those who ask about any detainees. He was in a
very bad psychological state. This happened in the first week of September."

     Instead, the families of detainees turned for help to the Red Crescent,
to whom many of the bodies found in the streets were being referred. A member
of the Red Crescent's administrative council described the situation to
Amnesty International:

     "In the early days of the invasion, we tried to raise with the Iraqis the
cases of detainees as well as those who had disappeared. There were many such
cases in Kuwait. When a young man steps out of his house, there is a
likelihood that he will not return. The families of the disappeared tried to
enquire about them with the Iraqis in all possible places, but to no avail. So
they used to come to the Red Crescent in the hope that we had some
information. Prior to the invasion, the Kuwaiti Red Crescent had professional
links with the Iraqi Red Crescent, and we tried to use those connections in
order to obtain information about the detainees. We were not successful in
this. All we could do was to ask the families to write down for us the names
and details of those missing, in case we should come across them in the
future....."

     On 16 September, six Red Crescent workers were arrested by Iraqi
soldiers. They were taken away from their premises on the pretext that they
were to attend a meeting with the Iraqi Minister of Health who was visiting
Kuwait. Instead, they were taken to Nayef Palace, which is being used as a
detention centre. They were held there for 26 days. Following their release,
the Red Crescent headquarters were closed down, and Iraq subsequently
announced that the Iraqi and Kuwaiti Red Crescent societies had been merged.

     The following is a father's account of his attempts to find one of his
sons, Hassan, a 24-year-old teacher. He was arrested from his home on 16
September, together with his younger brother, 'Abdallah, a student aged 18.
'Abdallah was brought back nine days later and shot dead in front of his
parent's home [see Section 6 below], while Hassan remained in detention. The
father, a Kuwaiti aged 53, told Amnesty International how he tried to find him
[the names of both sons have been changed to prevent identification]:

     "When I returned to my house after the burial [of 'Abdallah], a
Palestinian whom I did not know came up to me and asked if I was the father
of... (mentioning the names of my other sons who were in the armed forces).
When I replied yes, he warned me: "Your sons were in the armed forces. You
had better escape or they will come after you." So I spent the next week in
hiding, moving from house to house and sleeping in different places. Then I
felt I must look for my son, Hassan. I enquired about him everywhere. I went
to the police stations in al-Rigga, al-Ahmadi, al-Sabahiyya. Khaitan, but I
did not find him. As one of these police stations the Iraqis asked me if I was
a Kuwaiti. I said yes, and they mocked me: "Your sons are the sons of Jaber
and Sa'ad" [referring to the Amir of Kuwait and the Crown Prince]. Finally, I
was told he was at Markaz al-Ib'ad [the Deportation Centre]. When I went
there, the soldiers told me that they would release Hassan in exchange for a
television, a video and 500 dinars. So I went home and returned with these
items. I was kept waiting for several hours. At 3.15 in the afternoon Hassan
was brought out. He could not walk, the soldiers were carrying him. I put him
in the car and took him to the home of my brother-in-law in al-Rumaithiyya.
Hassan had been badly tortured and his face was swollen from having been
beaten. I did not dare to take him to any of the hospitals. So we waited, and
at the first opportunity we left Kuwait..."

     A 24-year-old Kuwaiti, formerly a lieutenant in the National Guard,
describes below how he learned of the fate of his father who, according to a
former detainee held with him at al-Firdos police station, had been
transferred to a hospital. The father had been arrested in the district of
al-Sabahiyya in late August on suspicion of taking part in opposition
activities:

     "When [the former detainee] told me that my father was in hospital, I
went looking for him in the hospitals but I couldn't find him. I looked in
the cemeteries but I couldn't find him. Then I was advised to go to al-Amiri
Hospital where ... photographs of the dead [had been taken]. There, I saw a
photograph of my father. There were traces of beatings on his head, an open
wound in his stomach and the skin on his face was flayed. I left the hospital
with my cousin, and we came across a checkpoint near al-Hamra Cinema. [The
soldier] told us to produce identification and asked me why I was crying. My
cousin replied that my father had died. The soldier said that it was no
problem that my father had died. My cousin told him that my father was more
honourable than any Iraqi..."

     Both the former lieutenant and his cousin were arrested at this point and
held for five days.

THE DETENTION OF WESTERN AND OTHER FOREIGN NATIONALS

     The information in this section relates to the period up to 6 December,
when President Saddam Hussain announced that all detained Western and other
nationals were to be released and allowed to leave Iraq. Developments after 6
December are not referred to in this document.

     On 19 August, seventeen days after the invasion, the Iraqi authorities
ordered all Western foreign nationals in Kuwait to assemble in three hotels in
Kuwait City - the Regency Palace, the Meridien and the International Hotel.
They announced that these nationals may be transferred for detention at key
military and industrial sites in order to deter military attacks against Iraq.
Although none were actually detained on that day, the announcement marked the
beginning of what is now commonly referred to as Iraq's 'human shield' policy.
On 20 August, British and French government sources confirmed that 82 Britons
and six French nationals were moved from hotels in Kuwait and taken to unknown
destinations. In addition, some 200 British and American nationals who had
also been transferred from Kuwait to Iraq were detained in several hotels in
Baghdad. On 21 August, the Iraqi authorities confirmed that some foreign
nationals had been transferred to military sites in Iraq.

     Subsequently, hundreds of foreign nationals were rounded up in Kuwait
City and taken to Iraq. They included French, British, American, Australian,
German, Dutch, Belgian, Scandinavian and Italian nationals as well as Japanese
nationals. Hundreds of others of these and other Western nationalities who
were either working in or visiting Iraq at the time were also detained in
hotels in Baghdad or transferred to undisclosed locations. In the third week
of August, the Iraqi authorities announced that some 13,000 Western, Soviet
and Japanese nationals would not be permitted to leave Iraq or Kuwait until
United States troops withdrew from Saudi Arabia and the sanctions against Iraq
were lifted. Nevertheless, up until 6 December, several hundred of these
foreign nationals were allowed to leave Iraq; largely following visits by
former heads of state and political leaders from countries including Britain,
France, the United States, Austria, Germany, Japan and the Soviet Union. The
majority remained in Iraq, however, and were dubbed 'guests' by the host
country. The precise numbers of those among them who, at the time of writing,
were detained in strategic military and industrial installations, were not
known. According to one estimate, some 600 British, Japanese and American
nationals were being held at an estimated thirty sites in both Iraq and
Kuwait, while up to 2,000 Western nationals remained in hiding in Kuwait
[figures compiled by the Associated Press news agency].

     The Iraqi authorities have said nothing to suggest that these foreign
nationals are being held on grounds other than their nationality. President
Saddam Hussein recently reaffirmed that they have not been charged with any
offence. In an interview broadcast on British television on 12 November, he
said the following:

     "if you ask these guests, whom you call hostages, who have returned to
Britain: did Iraq ask anything of you in return for lifting the restrictions
on travel... they will reply that nothing [was asked]. Therefore... they are
not hostages. And if you ask them: did Iraq charge you with anything or
interrogate you, they will reply no. Therefore they are not imprisoned, and
the description of detention and imprisonment does not apply to them..."

     Semantics aside, however, it is beyond doubt that these detentions are
arbitrary and violate international human rights norms. Furthermore, all
foreign nationals detained since 2 August have been denied consular access.
Foreign diplomats in Kuwait were themselves stripped of diplomatic immunity
when the Iraqi authorities announced that all embassies in the country should
cease to operate by 24 August.

     Scores of Western nationals took refuge in their embassies in Kuwait
City in the third week of August when the `human shield' policy began to be
implemented, but most remained in hiding elsewhere. A group of British and
American nationals who, at the time of writing, were in hiding in Kuwait
described their situation thus in a report they had compiled dated 6 November:

     "We have been in hiding at various locations for over three months. We
never go outside and the only daylight we see is by peeping round a curtain.
As for escape, that is totally impossible. We would have to get through as
many as six checkpoints manned by armed Iraqi soldiers to reach the desert.
Even if we got that far, which is very unlikely, we face the prospect of being
shot without warning by soldiers in and around Kuwait."

     One British national was in fact shot dead on 11 August as he tried to
cross the Kuwaiti - Saudi Arabian border [see Section 6 below]. The situation
became more precarious with the introduction of the death penalty for
harbouring Western nationals on 25 August. Several Kuwaiti former detainees
Interviewed by Amnesty International stated that during interrogation, they
were questioned on the whereabouts of foreigners. Many others reported that
Iraqi soldiers conducted house-to-house searches looking for foreigners, and
that in some cases violence was used to detain them. On 5 September an
American national, Miles Hoffman, was reported to have been shot in the arm
while trying to evade capture from his home. Also in early September, a
British man and his Filipino wife were allegedly beaten prior to their arrest.
An account of that incident, as well as a general description of the
situation, is provided by a British woman who had been living in Kuwait and
whose husband remained in hiding there. She told Amnesty International in
October:

     "Our home was in al-Fahahil ... we heard lots of stories. I knew a
British guy with a Filipino wife, he's about 35 or 40 years old. The Iraqis
broke into their flat while they were in hiding in the back room. It was
between 1 and 3 September. They kicked the wife in the chest and her husband
was badly beaten around the head. I think she's here now [in the United
Kingdom], but he's a hostage ... My husband and I were in hiding almost from
the beginning. We went out only if it was absolutely necessary. Eight days
after the invasion we moved from our flat because it became unbearable. We
were afraid the Iraqis would come, so we moved southwards. Someone told us
they were picking up Brits in house-to-house searches ... Now the situation
is much worse. I got a letter from my husband on Friday, it was dated 25
September and was smuggled out of Kuwait. He says there's an atmosphere of
despair. He seems to think the soldiers are getting ready to move in, and
it's a lot more tense than when I was there. He says they're picking up more
Brits, and mentioned that at least twenty more were picked up last week. He's
back to hiding in the attic now ... The Palestinians were helping with food,
but they can't help any more because they don't have money..."

     The 6 November report quoted earlier, which had been sent to Amnesty
International (among others), gives further details about the situation of
some of the Western nationals:

     "We have to report that the American Embassy is now totally out of touch
with the situation in Kuwait and the conditions under which its people and
ourselves are surviving. They are virtually powerless to help us in any way.
For us in hiding, it means that for our daily needs we have to rely totally on
the goodwill and capabilities of the Kuwaiti people, whose patience is wearing
very thin ... An additional problem in respect of our security is now getting
close. All Kuwaitis will become non-persons in their own country on November
25 ... unless they register themselves for Iraqi citizenship. Those not
complying will become fugitives from Iraqi justice in their own country and,
like us, will have to go into hiding. Many others will take the opportunity to
leave the country if possible before November 25th ... This will leave many of
us in hiding without protection. It will assuredly force large numbers of us
to give ourselves up, as there will be nobody to supply us with food."

     The 25 November deadline for the taking up of Iraqi identity documents
has since been extended by one month. An earlier report sent in mid-October
by the same group of British and American nationals gave details of the case
below,which highlighted the predicament of Western nationals in hiding who
required medical attention:

     "A Scotsman in hiding in Kuwait City was rushed to a hospital with a
perforated ulcer. He had been reluctant to expose himself for fear of
capture, despite his condition. Unfortunately the man died in the hospital.
His body has still not been released by the Iraqis for burial."