Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani announced on Saturday that officials, including military officers, have been referred to the judiciary for committing serious human rights violations.
Although a government statement did not name the officials, media reports said Sudani was referring to the Permanent Committee to Investigate Corruption and Significant Crimes, better known as Committee 29.
Led by Ahmed Abu Ragheef, a senior intelligence and investigations officer in the Ministry of Interior, Committee 29 was formed at the directive of former Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi in August 2020 to investigative major corruption cases.
Sudani stressed that Iraq’s constitution bans all forms of physical and psychological torture and inhumane treatment and hailed the citizens who filed complaints.
According to the statement, Sudani’s government appointed a human rights advisor directly after assuming its constitutional duties in mid-October. It established a mechanism to receive complaints and take appropriate actions in this regard.
The statement further revealed that 3,000 complaints were submitted, adding that many spoke of legal violations committed by public servants and officials, which are seen as serious violations of human rights.
The complaints and allegations have been referred to the Public Prosecution and will be later sent to the Human Rights Investigation Court.
Also, through follow-up, a number of the accused, including an investigative officer, were referred to the relevant courts for trial.
The developments were in response to a nine-month investigation by The Washington Post, which concluded on Wednesday that Committee 29 had used extreme methods of torture, including sexual violence, to extract pre-written confessions from former Iraqi officials and businessmen.
Sudani on Thursday said any party that used and extracted confessions by force would be held to account.
In more than two dozen interviews, including five men detained by the committee, nine family members who had relatives imprisoned, and 11 Iraqi and Western officials who tracked the committee’s work, the Post revealed a process marked by abuse and humiliation, more focused on obtaining signatures for pre-written confessions than on accountability for corrupt acts.
It quoted a former detainee as saying that the means of torture included electric shocks and choking with plastic bags.
