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 communication’s submission, and to the resolution it adopted at its 191st session (October 2012),

Recalling the following information on file:

• 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 of 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 was 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 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 of parliament and one on the shelling 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;

• On 24 July 2011, the Speaker of the Council of Representatives set up an ad hoc committee of inquiry of five parliamentarians to examine Mr. Al-Dainy’s case; following in‑depth inquiries, the committee concluded on 15 March 2012 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) Mr. Al‑Dainy was in Amman at the time of the firing of mortar shells into the Green Zone during the visit to Baghdad of the Iranian President, a fact borne out by stamps in his passport; (d) as to the allegation concerning Captain Haqi Al-Shamary’s murder, the committee found that the Captain was still alive; the committee issued its final report, recommending inter alia: (1) that the case of Mr. Al‑Dainy be promptly reviewed in the interests of truth and justice, and (2) that the perpetrators of the acts of torture committed against Mr. Al-Dainy’s family members and escorts during their detention in Al-Sharaf prison be held accountable,

Considering further that the conclusions of the parliamentary committee, including its official request for Mr. Al-Dainy’s retrial, were broached, including in direct meetings, with the High Judicial Council, the Prime Minister and other competent authorities,

Recalling that the Joint study on global practices in relation to secret detention centres 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 the accusations against Mr. Al‑Dainy and held in secret detention in the Green Zone run by the Baghdad Brigade, describes the torture inflicted on them and states that they were forced to sign and fingerprint pre-prepared confessions,

Considering that, on 8 October 2011, following investigations into secret detention centres conducted by its human rights committee, the Council of Representatives adopted a resolution recognizing that Al‑Sharaf prison in the Green Zone is a secret prison where serious violations of human rights have been committed, including acts of torture inflicted on detainees to extort coerced confessions, in violation of Article 19 of the Iraqi Constitution,

Bearing in mind 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,

1. Remains convinced 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;

2. Fully supports, therefore, the recommendation of the parliamentary committee of inquiry that Mr. Al-Dainy be retried;

3. Takes note with interest that this recommendation has been the subject of follow-up meetings with the High Judicial Council, the Prime Minister and other competent authorities; trusts that the competent authorities will give full and urgent consideration to this matter;

4. Considers that a mission to Iraq by a delegation of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians would offer a timely opportunity to meet with senior officials of the executive and judicial branches, particularly the Prime Minister, the President of the High Judicial Council and the Prosecutor General, so as to obtain first-hand information on the prospects for progress in the case; requests the Secretary General to seek the authorities’ agreement for such a mission;

5. Reiterates its wishto receive informationon the measures taken by the competent authorities following the confirmation by the Council of Representatives of the existence of Al-Sharaf secret prison and the routine use of torture; trusts that the prison will be closed promptly and wishes to know if any steps are being taken to this end and to address the critical situation of prisoners detained in Iraqi prisons, particularly women and persons in preventive detention;

6. Requests the Secretary General to convey this resolution to the parliamentary authorities, the High Judicial Council and the Prime Minister;

7. Requests the Committee to continue examining this case and to report back to it in due course.

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