Iraq Amnesty International in Basra - Field Update

Iraq: Amnesty International in Basra - Field Update

News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty International

AI INDEX: MDE 14/102/2003 29 April 2003

Iraq: Amnesty International in Basra - Field Update April 29 2003

- Amnesty International received reports that three people were killed, when they stepped on an unexploded landmine in Basra. At least one of those dead was a child.

Outside the ICRC, Amnesty International delegates talked to Iraqis who are desperately seeking information on relatives, some presumed to be detained by coalition forces. Many Iraqis are travelling to southern Iraq find information about their loved ones.

- Delegates met with representatives of the Iraqi Red Crescent Society and the International Organisation for Migration, and established contact with the British military in Basra.

- In a vacant lot next to the intelligence directorate in Basra, Amnesty International delegates saw British soldiers unloading cartloads of documents. Due to its location people were searching through the documents, later determined to be from the electricity company.

- Amnesty International saw that compared with a previous visit, queues for petrol increased at least four fold.

- Amnesty International continued to gather information on previous human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law committed during the conflict.

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"People come first - Protect Human Rights" Visit the Iraq Crisis home page at http://amnesty-news.c.tclk.net/maaa2jFaaXFTCbb0hPub/

Take action! Visit http://amnesty-news.c.tclk.net/maaa2jFaaXFTDbb0hPub/

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