ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani has approved a set of recommendations suggested by a committee he formed to investigate the abuse allegations against an anti-corruption committee during the tenure of former Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi. A nine-month investigation by the Washington Post in December concluded that Iraq’s Permanent Committee to Investigate Corruption and Significant Crimes, also known as Committee 29, had used extreme methods of torture, including sexual violence, to extract pre-written confessions from former Iraqi officials and businessmen. The report relied on interviews with several of the detainees, their family members, as well as Iraqi and Western officials. Sudani formed a special investigative committee to probe the allegations and complaints a few days later. Basem al-Awadi, the spokesperson of the Iraqi government, on Wednesday said that the Iraqi premier has approved the committee’s suggestions which include handing over the investigative documents to the judiciary in order to ensure accountability against the accused. “The committee has recommended that all individuals involved in these violations will be discharged, and strict measures will be implemented to prevent their future eligibility for public office,” said Awadi, also suggesting “administrative punishments” against staff members who did not report the violations. Led by Ahmed Abu Ragheef, a senior intelligence and investigations officer in the Ministry of Interior, Committee 29 was formed under the directive of Kadhimi in August 2020 to investigative major corruption cases. Iraq’s Interior Minister Abdul-Amir al-Shammari approved the decision to retire Abu Ragheef, eight officers, and one staff member of Committee 29, based on the findings of the investigative committee, the spokesperson added. Awadi stressed that the investigation of the special committee had adhered to “constitutional and legal processes,” removed from any “vengeful” or inhumane measures. Kadhimi in late December responded to the abuse allegations committed by the committee during his tenure, saying that the accusations lack “legal evidence” and that the committee had operated “in accordance with judicial rulings.” A report from the US State Department in April regarding the human rights situation in Iraq in 2022, said that significant violations of human rights in the country included “credible reports of unlawful or arbitrary killings … forced disappearances by the government; torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or punishment by the government, harsh and life-threatening prison conditions, arbitrary arrest, and detention.” In an August 2021 report, the United Nations said that a total of 1,406 complaints of “torture or ill-treatment in places of detention” were reported by the Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council, of which only 18 were closed.
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