A Voice for the Voiceless

By Lauren Mellinger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq – On December 27, the Iraqi High Tribunal commenced a new trial against several former Baathist officials, including former Iraqi Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz and Ali Hassan al-Majid, also known as ‘Chemical Ali’, on charges that they were involved in the persecution of political opponents while Saddam Hussein was in power.  20 other high-ranking members of Saddam Hussein’s government were also indicted.

The current charges allege that both Aziz and Al-Majid’s perpetrated crimes against humanity, including the arrest of nearly 250,000 members of Dawa and other political parties.  Between 1981 and the 2003 US-led invasion, many of those arrested were either imprisoned or executed.  In 1980, the Iraqi government banned the Dawa party and threatened to execute any members.

One incident included in the indictment, is the massacre in Balad in 1981, where the government arrested 1,135 Dawa members and their families and held them captive at a camp in the desert near the Saudi border.  All men ages 15 years and older were executed, resulting in a death toll of 379.  When the women and children were released in 1984, the government had confiscated their homes and property.

Prosecutor Mahdi al-Haddo cited other instances of the Hussein government’s persecution of Dawa members in his opening remarks to the court including, accounts of Dawa members being fatally poisoned, tied to dynamite, or thrown into vats of acid.  Other allegations include the rape of the wives and daughters of Dawa party members.

According to al-Haddo, “We want to give a true depiction of crimes committed by the Saddamists against sons of Iraq in Balad.  We must show people across the nation, especially those characterizing Saddam as an Arab nationalist and his government as a democracy.”

The Dawa Party is currently led by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.  While many Iraqis, including relatives of the victims, welcome the new charges, critics claim that the timing of the trial is a political move by the Maliki government to increase their support among its core constituency – Iraq’s Shia population – before the upcoming provincial elections in January.  These critics argue that the fact that several of the current defendants have previously been tried, convicted and sentenced suggests that the timing of the current trial is politically motivated.

Al-Majid has previously received two death sentences by the Iraqi court for his role in the gassing of Kurds in northern Iraq, which killed nearly 5,000 people, and for his role in suppressing a Shia uprising in 1991.  Aziz was previously tried for his involvement in the execution of Iraqi businessmen for allegedly raising prices during the first Gulf War.  Several of the other defendants are currently facing charges in other trials involving atrocities committed while serving in the Hussein government.

For more information, please see:

Alsumaria – New Charges Against Former Regime Officials – 29 December 2008

Azeri Press Agency –  Former Saddam Hussein’s Associate’s Tariq Aziz and “Chemical Ali” Go on New Trial – 29 December 2008

BBC – Saddam Loyalists Face New Charges – 28 December 2008

NY Times – Ex-Hussein Officials and Others Go on Trial  – 28 December 2008

Reuters – Iraq Tries Saddam Officials for Crushing Opponents – 28 December 2008

By Lauren Mellinger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

 RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – In December 2008, a Saudi corporation, which chooses to remain anonymous, initiated an ad campaign to stop abuse against migrant domestic workers in the country.  The campaign emphasizes religious teaching, focusing on mercy and compassion to advocate for a change in the treatment of foreign domestic workers.

 An estimated 1.5 million migrant domestic workers travel to Saudi Arabia annually in search of employment.  Many who are employed as domestic workers are subjected to emotional, physical  and sexual abuse by their employer.  For example, wealthy employers withhold wages.

 Human rights activities, including Human Rights Watch, claim that abuse against domestic workers is common in Saudi Arabia, and that the current ad campaign is a necessary first step toward addressing the issue.  All television advertisements end with a saying from the Prophet Muhammed regarding mercy and reciprocity.

The campaign features advertisements in several Saudi-owned newspapers and satellite television channels, and includes graphic images depicting the maltreatment of domestic workers in many Saudi homes.  One advertisement, which appeared in the newspaper Al Hayat, depicts a maid trapped in a kennel and wearing a dog collar; another ad shows a foreign chauffeur wearing saddle while a Saudi woman holds the reins.

 The ad campaign has been criticized heavily in Saudi Arabia, with many claiming that the harsh imagery is not an adequate representation of Saudi society.  Several journalists have called for an end to the ad campaign, claiming that it depicts Saudi society as cruel and heartless.  Several major newspapers have refused to publish the ads.  According to one journalist, Terad Al al-Asmari, the current campaign “could lead  to hatred between foreign labor and the Saudi citizen.”

 However,  a Saudi human rights lawyer and activist Abdel Rahmn al-Lahim has defended the campaign, stating that, “unlike conferences and seminar, a media campaign like Rahma reaches the average man and woman, who are more often than not, those same employers who mistreat their servants.”

 In response to a Human Rights Watch report released in 2008 regarding the plight of migrant domestic workers in Saudi Arabia, the government, through the Ministry of Labor, and the Saudi Association for Human Rights are collaborating to formulate guidelines that will regulate the relationship between foreign domestic workers and their employers.  The new regulations include legal guarantees for laborers, and an initiative to legalize professional contractors and corporations through which Saudi citizens can employ domestic workers based on a contractual relationship between the company, the migrant worker and the Saudi employer.  Both human rights advocates and the Saudi government consider eliminating the private sponsorship of migrant domestic workers to be a crucial step in ending abuse of migrant domestic workers.

Human Rights Watch is urging Saudi Arabia to ratify the UN Migrant Workers Convention, which guarantees migrant workers’ human rights and requires a state to provide protection for foreign workers against abuse by private employers and public officials.

 For more information, please see:

 Al Arabiya – Saudi Mercy Campaign Highlights Islamic Values – 24 December 2008

 Angola Press – Saudi Campaign Against Maid Abuse – 24 December 2008

BBC –Saudi Campaign Against Maid Abuse – 23 December 2008

 Reuters – Mideast Should Act Against Maid Abuse – 17 December 2008