Iraq military continues to violate the rights of civilians

[Barrett808]

BAGHDAD, 9 October (IRIN) - Raid Othman al-Dulaimi, a 36-year-old engineer, still vividly recalls his suffering on a night last winter when his five-month ordeal with the Iraqi army began. The army raided his house in Baghdad in late December 2005 following a roadside bomb attack nearby.

"They accused me of having links to the attackers. They put all of us in the garden and beat me in front of my wife and children. They overturned all the furniture and stole my private computer, money and gold," al-Dulaimi said, adding that he was taken to prison and beaten to elicit a confession.

"After five months of insults and bad treatment they said, 'We are sorry, you have nothing to do with the terrorists,'" he said.

Human rights groups say the rights of citizens, especially those who live in restive areas, are often violated by Iraq's national army and US-led coalition forces searching for terrorists and criminals. They say this has undermined support for the government as a whole.

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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/6fe35da19298e3660cb9929f59fcbff4.htm