IRAQ
| CASE N° IQ/59 - MOHAMMED AL-DAINY |
Resolution adopted by concensus by the IPU Governing Council at its 189th session*
(Bern, 19 October 2011)
The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,
Referring to the case of Mr. Mohammed Al-Dainy, a member of the Council of Representatives of Iraq at the time of the submission of the communication, as outlined in the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/189/11(b)-R.1), and to the resolution adopted at its 188th session (April 2011),
Taking into account the information provided by members of the Iraqi delegation to the 125th IPU Assembly, a former parliamentarian and Mr. Al‑Dainy’s wife at the hearing held with the Committee during the 125th Assembly (October 2011),
Recalling the following:
- Mr. Al-Dainy, a member of the Council of Representatives of Iraq for the legislative period 2006-2010, is known to have investigated conditions of detention in Iraq and the existence of secret detention facilities; in October 2008 he shared the information he had gathered with competent United Nations human rights bodies in Geneva; on 25 February 2009, parliament lifted his immunity on account of an accusation of having masterminded the 12 April 2007 suicide bombing in parliament; Mr. Al-Dainy fled abroad for fear of his life;
- Ten members of his family and another nine members of his staff (mainly escorts) were arrested in different stages during February 2009, and detailed information has been provided by the source about the circumstances of their arrest without warrants, their ill-treatment and the ransacking of their homes; the release of some of them later in 2009 and 2010 has revealed ample evidence that they were tortured in secret detention centres to implicate Mr. Al-Dainy in the commission of crimes, in particular the (a) bombing of the Parliament in April 2007; (b) launching mortar shells into the international zone during the visit of the Iranian President in 2008, and murdering one of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood from where the shells were launched; (c) killing 155 people from Al‑Tahweela village whom he buried alive and (d) murdering Captain Ismail Haqi Al-Shamary;
- On 24 January 2010, Mr. Al-Dainy was sentenced to death in absentia; the verdict consists of a little more than one page (French translation), contains two paragraphs dealing with the suicide bombing in parliament and one on the bombing of the Green Zone, six lines on the storing of weapons, the founding of a terrorist organization linked to the Baath party, and to prove that Mr. Al-Dainy committed these crimes, relies heavily on the testimonies of three members of his security staff (Riadh Ibrahim, Alaa Kherallah, Haydar Abdallah) and a secret informant; it does not refer to any of the other accusations,
Considering that at the hearing with the Committee, the following information was provided: acting on letters sent by the IPU Secretary General, the Speaker of the Council of Representatives set up an ad hoc committee of five parliamentarians to examine this case; the committee worked for one month, heard witnesses and gathered information on the spot of alleged crime scenes; it found the following:
- The lifting of Mr. Al-Dainy’s parliamentary immunity had violated relevant rules as the decision was taken without the necessary quorum and was therefore unlawful; as regards the accusation of having killed more than 100 villagers in Al‑Tahweela village, the investigation on the spot revealed that this crime did not exist; with regard to the firing of mortar shells at the Green Zone during the visit to Baghdad of the Iranian President, Mr. Al‑Dainy was in Amman at the time, which is also attested by stamps in his passport; as to the accusation of having murdered Captain Haqi Al-Shamary, the commission found that he was still alive;
- As regards the bombing of parliament in April 2007 at which the parliamentarians heard by the IPU Committee were present and two of them injured, the ad hoc committee concluded that Mr. Al-Dainy was in no way involved in the crime; he was himself in parliament at the time and assisted in taking the injured to the hospital; documents were provided to the IPU Committee showing that the suicide bomber entered parliament with the knowledge of the then Speaker and MP Hassan Deccan and the help of a nephew and an escort of the latter, who all had the necessary badges to enter the Green Zone without being inspected; they were seen entering the then Speaker’s office after the explosion; arrest warrants were issued in 2008 for them, but never acted upon; the mother, wife and sister of MP Mohammed Awad, who was killed in the explosion, sued the then Speaker of Parliament and his Deputy, but no action has been taken,
Noting that the ad hoc committee submitted its report to the Speaker, who has now to decide how to act on it, but that the report will be submitted to the first-instance court that dealt with Mr. Al‑Dainy’s case; that, moreover, the committee has issued recommendations to continue examining questions regarding lifting of parliamentary immunity, the oversight powers of parliament and the existence of secret detention centres,
Noting also that, at the hearing, information provided earlier, namely that the Court of Cassation had quashed the judgment handed down on two of Al‑Dainy’s escorts, who had testified against him, was confirmed; that the Cassation Court judgment as well as the evidence gathered by the parliamentary ad hoc committee are grounds for a review of Mr. Al‑Dainy’s case which could lead to his rehabilitation,
Considering that, more generally, the delegation reported on the continuing existence of secret detention centres and the use of torture as well as on the pressure on and intimidation of all those, including members of parliament, who criticize the Government of Prime Minister Al-Maliki, such as the abuse of parliamentary immunity and threat of criminal proceedings on the basis of accusations by anonymous informants, as well as the use of media to accuse members of parliament; that pressure is also being brought to bear on the judiciary, which is facilitated by the fact that clear legal procedures and rules have not yet been adopted,
Recalling also that the joint study on global practices in relation to secret detention in the context of countering terrorism of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism, the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and the Working Group on Arbitrary or Involuntary Disappearances (A/HRC/13/42), presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council at its 13th session, includes a chapter on secret detention centres in Iraq and explicitly mentions the group of people arrested in connection with accusations against Mr. Al‑Dainy and held in secret detention in a prison in the Green Zone run by the Baghdad Brigade; it describes the torture inflicted on them and their being forced to sign and fingerprint pre-prepared confessions,
Bearing in mind that the 2005 Constitution of Iraq contains a human rights catalogue guaranteeing the following fundamental rights: Article 15: right to life, security and liberty, Article 17 (para. 2): sanctity of the home; homes may not be entered, searched or put in danger except by a judicial decision and in accordance with the law; Article 19 (para. 12): prohibits unlawful detention and detention in places not designed for it,
Bearing in mind also that Iraq is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which it ratified in 1971; that the Covenant guarantees the right to life and security, prohibits torture, arbitrary arrest and detention and stipulates fair-trial guarantees; noting in this respect the concerns which the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers has voiced on many occasions regarding the observance of those rights in Iraq,
- Thanks the members of the Iraqi delegation for the information they provided;
- Is very gratified by the initiative taken by the Speaker of the Council of Representatives to set up an ad hoc committee to examine Mr. Al‑Dainy’s case and commends the ad hoc committee for its important work;
- Notes that its findings confirm that the charges laid against Mr. Al‑Dainy are false, that persons were tortured to obtain testimony against him, and that the trial proceedings are therefore a travesty of justice;
- Affirms that it is in the interests of justice and urgent to invalidate the entire proceedings against Mr. Al‑Dainy and to quash the iniquitous verdict against him;
- Is confident that the Council of Representatives will make every effort to ensure the rehabilitation of a former colleague who was punished on account of having, in the exercise of his parliamentary mandate, revealed the existence of secret detention centres and combated the use of torture;
- Recalls that the Iraqi authorities have a duty to abolish the secret detention centres, to investigate the serious allegations of torture and to bring the culprits to justice; encourages the Council of Representatives to use its oversight function to ensure respect for the rule of law, to combat torture and to bring about the abolition of all secret detention centres; offers the cooperation of the IPU in this endeavour;
- Requests the Secretary General to convey this resolution to the parliamentary and other competent authorities;
- Requests the Committee to continue examining this case and report to it at its next session, to be held during the 126th IPU Assembly (March/April 2012).
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