Saddam Hussein

Under Saddam Hussein, Iraq extended capital punishment to numerous political offences and used executions, arbitrary detention, torture and disappearances against actual or perceived opponents.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

After 1991, killings, disappearances, torture, forced transfers and massive drainage of marshlands were used against marsh communities and opponents taking refuge there.

State of the evidence

HRW_found_many_acts_constituted_crimes_against_humanity

Attribution

Political responsibility

The regime expelled minorities from oil-producing areas, seized property and imposed administrative changes to ethnic identity in order to alter local demographics.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

HRW documented mass executions of prisoners, frequently without judicial proceedings, as part of a wider campaign of prison repression.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

Following the assassination of Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr, protests erupted; the regime responded with arrests, torture, executions and the destruction of homes, particularly in Basra.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

Iraqi forces invaded and then occupied Kuwait, triggering Security Council condemnations, sanctions and the Gulf War.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

During the Iraqi occupation, Kuwaiti and foreign civilians were subjected to summary executions, torture, arbitrary arrests, disappearances and looting.

Attribution

Political responsibility

Thousands of people were seized in Kuwait and transported to Iraq; many missing persons remained unaccounted for after the war.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

Iraq fired modified missiles at Israeli and Saudi urban areas; HRW characterised targeting major population centres as a clear violation of the laws of war.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Command responsibility

During the withdrawal, Iraqi forces set hundreds of oil wells ablaze and destroyed extensive infrastructure, causing an environmental and economic disaster.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Command responsibility

Loyalist forces recaptured insurgent towns and regions using indiscriminate fire, summary executions, mass arrests and attacks against fleeing civilians.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

Iraqi documents and witness accounts examined by HRW establish repeated use of poison gas and conventional attacks against Kurdish villages.

Legal status — source text

Saddam_Anfal_trial_terminated_before_verdict

Attribution

Political responsibility

The Kurdish town of Halabja was struck by chemical agents, killing up to approximately 5,000 civilians, mostly women and children.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

Iraqi soldiers took approximately 8,000 Barzani men and boys from resettlement camps; they remained missing and are presumed to have been massacred.

State of the evidence

Well documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

The regime made membership of al-Da'wa punishable by death with retroactive effect and intensified executions of Shiite clerics and activists.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility