Ask Amnesty

From George, Bluffton, OH:

I keep hearing larger and larger estimates of how many civilians were killed during Saddam's decades in power in Iraq. Does your organization have an estimate?

Amnesty International USA's Alistair Hodgett responds. Alistair Hodgett is AIUSA's Washington Media Director.

Dear George:

It is impossible to assess how many people have been killed and tortured over the years. Starting in the 1980s, hundreds of thousands of Kurds and Shi'a Muslims 'disappeared.' In some years such as 1987/88 thousands of political prisoners were executed.

Amnesty International's attention is focused on ensuring that those responsible for the grave human rights abuses committed in Iraq are investigated and prosecuted, which will not only help to uncover information that until now has remained hidden or undocumented, but will also establish a public record of the truth and ensure some measure of accountability for the abuses that were committed.