Quotes of note:
On a positive note, the report said the ending of Saddam's rule "must be counted a major contribution to human rights in Iraq."
and
"Everyone accepts the good intentions of the Coalition governments as regards the behavior of their forces in Iraq," Ramcharan said. Iraq could now be "on the road to democracy, the rule of law, and governance that is respectful of human rights."
and
Ramcharan's spokesman, Jose Luis Diaz, denied suggestions that the report's language had been watered down at the insistence of the United States. "There was no pressure on this office," he told Reuters.
UN Says Coalition Troops Violated Rights in Iraq
By Robert Evans
GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations (news - web sites)' top human rights official said on Friday U.S.-led occupation forces had committed "serious violations" of international humanitarian law in Iraq (news - web sites) and had ill-treated ordinary Iraqis.
…The 45-page report cited one former Abu Ghraib detainee, Saddam Abood Al-Rawi, 29, as telling U.N. investigators he was subjected to 18 days of torture at the U.S.-run prison.
This included the pulling of teeth, kicking and beating and threats of rape, and warnings that he would be killed if he told a visiting international Red Cross team about his treatment.
Ramcharan, a British-trained barrister from Guyana and long-time U.N. official, suggested that among the more serious violations was the jailing of large numbers of Iraqis "without anyone knowing how many, for what reasons, for how long...and how they were being treated."
His report, which was submitted to U.S. and British officials for comment on Wednesday, cited Iraqis interviewed in Amman as speaking of "arbitrary arrests and detention as an ongoing phenomenon" since the invasion.
In a clear reference to the Abu Ghraib incidents, since when several U.S. soldiers working there have been detained, Ramcharan said "willful killing, torture or inhuman treatment" of detainees was a grave breach of international law.
Such acts, he added, "might be designated as war crimes by a competent tribunal."
