IRAQ
| CASE N° IQ/59 - MOHAMMED AL-DAINY |
Resolution adopted by concensus by the IPU Governing Council at its 189th session*
(Kampala, 5 April 2012)
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, and to the resolution adopted at its 189th session (October 2011),
Taking into account the information provided by a member of the Iraqi delegation to the 126th IPU Assembly (April 2012),
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; on 25 February 2009, parliament lifted his immunity on account of an accusation that he had masterminded the 12 April 2007 suicide bombing in parliament; Mr. Al-Dainy fled abroad for fear of his life;
- Ten members of Mr. Al-Dainy’s family and nine members of his staff (mainly escorts) were arrested at various times in 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; when some of them were released later in 2009 and in 2010, ample evidence came to light that they had been tortured in secret detention centres to implicate Mr. Al-Dainy in the commission of crimes, in particular: (a) the bombing of the Council of Representatives in April 2007; (b) the launch of mortar shells into the Green Zone during the visit of the Iranian President in 2008, and the murder of one of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood from which the shells were launched; (c) the killing of 155 people from Al‑Tahweela village who were allegedly buried alive; and (d) the murder of Captain Ismail Haqi Al-Shamary;
- On 24 January 2010, Mr. Al-Dainy was sentenced to death in absentia; the verdict runs to 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 and the founding of a terrorist organization linked to the Ba’ath party, and, to prove that Mr. Al-Dainy committed these crimes, relies heavily on the testimony of three members of his security staff (Mr. Riadh Ibrahim, Mr. Alaa Kherallah, Mr. Haydar Abdallah) and a secret informant; it does not refer to any of the other accusations;
- In December 2010, the Court of Cassation quashed the judgment handed down regarding two of Mr. Al‑Dainy’s escorts who had testified against him,
Recalling the following information on file: 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 Mr. Al-Dainy’s case; the committee concluded that: (a) the lifting of Mr. Al-Dainy’s parliamentary immunity had violated the applicable rules as it had been decided in the absence of a quorum and was therefore unlawful; (b) as regards the allegation that Mr. Al-Dainy had killed more than 100 villagers in Al‑Tahweela village, the on-site investigation revealed that no crime had taken place; (c) with regard to the firing of mortar shells into the Green Zone during the visit to Baghdad of the Iranian President, Mr. Al‑Dainy was in Amman at the time, a fact borne out by stamps in his passport; (d) as to the allegation concerning Captain Haqi Al-Shamary’s murder, the commission found that the Captain was still alive; the ad hoc committee transmitted its report to the Speaker, who now has to decide how to act on it; in the meantime, the report will be submitted to the court of first instance that dealt with Mr. Al-Dainy’s case,
Recalling 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 thirteenth session, includes a section 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 centre in the Green Zone run by the Baghdad Brigade; it describes the torture inflicted on them and states that they were forced to sign and fingerprint pre‑prepared confessions,
Considering that, according to the member of the Iraqi delegation heard during the 126th IPU Assembly, the parliamentary human rights committee recently visited a secret detention centre and collected information on the situation of prisoners there; the Council of Representatives should soon be able to announce the establishment of an independent commission on human rights,
Bearing in mind also that Iraq is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which it ratified in 1971 and which 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 member of the Iraqi delegation for the information she provided;
- Reaffirms its conviction, further supported by the findings of the ad hoc parliamentary committee and the Cassation Court judgment regarding two of Mr. Al-Dainy’s escorts, that the charges laid against Mr. Al‑Dainy were false, that persons were tortured to obtain testimony against him, and that the trial proceedings are therefore a travesty of justice;
- Reaffirms that it is in the interests of justice and a matter of urgency 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 rehabilitate 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;
- Takes note with satisfaction of the recent interest shown and action taken by the Council of Representatives in overseeing detention centres and promoting human rights; is eager to know if the parliamentary human rights committee presented any conclusions and recommendations to the Council on its recent visit to a secret detention centre, in particular with a view to the abolition of such centres; trusts that the national human rights commission will soon be in place and also play a critical role in this regard; looks forward to receiving information about its functioning and work;
- Requests the Secretary General to convey this resolution to the parliamentary and other competent authorities;
- Requests the Committee to continue examining this case and to report to it at its next session, to be held during the 127th IPU Assembly (October 2012).
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