Coalition 'told Iraqis not to rise up'

Coalition 'told Iraqis not to rise up'

British troops outside Basra

People in Basra were told by the British and Americans to stay at home and not to rise up against Saddam Hussein, according to a leading Iraqi exile.

Dr. Hamid Al-Bayati - a senior member of Iraq's Shi'a community living in the UK - said pamphlet drops were one of the methods used by coalition forces to get their message across.

He said people in Iraq still had suspicions about US plans for an interim government post-Saddam.

Flanked by Labour MP Ann Clwyd and Iraqi Kurd Dr Latif Rashid, Dr Al-Bayati he said that the Iraqi people were determined to form their own interim administration once war was over.

He rejected a US-touted plan to put in one of their own people until elections could be called.

"You have to bear in mind that the allies distributed leaflets telling people to stay put.

"Memories of 1991 are strong where people were encouraged to rise up and were abandoned - you cannot blame people for thinking twice."

Ethnic cleansing

At a news conference in the House of Commons to highlight new evidence of human rights abuses collected by INDICT, Dr Rashid said that the ethnic cleansing suffered by his people over 25 years of Baath party rule was continuing even as war raged in the country.

Both men said that executions were occurring in Saddam-controlled territory.

Ms Clwyd - who founded INDICT, which aims to bring key figures of the Iraqi regime to justice - said that members of her organisation had gathered fresh evidence of human rights abuses in Iraq.

She said that there was a "dirty dozen" of key players in Saddam's regime including the dictator and his two sons.

Executioner?

A member of INDICT's staff then went on to detail a series of incidents including an alleged occasion when Saddam personally shot 60 Kurdish prisoners one-by-one with a pistol.

Ms Clwyd campaigns over human rights

A witness statement of the incident was read out.

It said: "One of the president's bodyguards brought 30 prisoners out - they were Kurds.

"The president himself shot them one after another with a Browning pistol.

"Another 30 prisoners were brought and the process was repeated.

"Saddam was laughing and obviously enjoying himself.

"There was blood everywhere - it was like an abattoir."