March 5, 2003
His Excellency Hasan bin Abdallah al-Ghanim
Minister of Justice
Doha
Qatar
Your Excellency:
We are writing with regard to the presence today in Doha of several top Iraqi officials, including Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, vice-chairman of Iraq’s Revolutionary Command Council, to attend an emergency summit meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
Human Rights Watch urges your government to arrest and prosecute Izzat Ibrahim for his well documented role in crimes against humanity, including mass murder and torture, in Iraq.
The crimes that Izzat Ibrahim is credibly alleged to have committed, including systematic or widespread killings, “disappearances,” and torture, constitute crimes against humanity. As such, they are subject to universal jurisdiction, a principle well established in international law. Under this principle, Qatar, like all states, is entitled to arrest and punish persons implicated in crimes against humanity. We strongly urge you to pursue judicial investigations against those responsible for crimes against humanity irrespective of where or when those crimes took place.
Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri has been a leading figure in the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein since the mid-1970s, when he served as Minister of Interior. For most of the period since 1979, when Saddam Hussein took over as president and head of the Revolutionary Command Council, Ibrahim has served as Deputy Chair of the RCC—effectively number two in the government. In 1988, he was also a member of the RCC's Northern Affairs Committee that, along with the Ba'th Party's Northern Bureau Command, was the administrative backbone for the genocidal Anfal campaign against Iraq's Kurdish population. The Northern Affairs Committee placed its seal on a June 20, 1987 directive, coded SF/4008, which called for "special strikes”—i.e., chemical attacks—“to kill the largest number of persons" in designated zones, as well as the capture and execution of all adults found in prohibited areas. The directive remained in force as the standing orders for Iraqi armed forces and security services throughout the Anfal campaign and beyond. Izzat Ibrahim was reported in the Washington Post on January 24, 1991, as warning the people of Sulaimaniyya, a major city in the Kurdish north, "if you have forgotten Halabja, I would like to remind you that we are ready to repeat the operation." Halabja was the Kurdish city that was the target of a major Iraqi chemical weapons assault on March 16, 1988 that killed as many as 5,000 residents.
We would welcome a commitment by your government to join those governments such as Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland that have affirmed in practice the importance of holding accountable those persons alleged to be responsible for the worst of crimes.
I look forward to your response in regard to this important matter.
Sincerely,
Hanny Megally
Executive director, Middle East and North Africa division
Cc: HE Bader Omar Al-Dafa, ambassador of Qatar to the United States
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