US rights report pulls up Iraqi govt

The State Department on Monday detailed an array of human rights abuses last year by the Iraqi government, including torture, rape and illeg...

The State Department on Monday detailed an array of human rights abuses last year by the Iraqi government, including torture, rape and illegal detentions by police officers and functionaries of the interim administration that took power in June.

In the Bush administration’s bluntest description of human rights transgressions by the US-supported government, the report said the Iraqis ‘‘generally respected human rights, but serious problems remained’’ as the government and US-led foreign forces fought a violent insurgency. It cited ‘‘reports of arbitrary deprivation of life, torture, impunity, poor prison conditions —— particularly in pretrial detention facilities —— and arbitrary arrest and detention.’’

The lengthy discussion came in a chapter on Iraq in the department’s annual report on human rights, which pointedly criticized not only countries that have been found chronically deficient, like North Korea, Syria and Iran, but also some close US allies, including Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

Story continues below this ad

The report did not address incidents in Iraq in which Americans were involved, like the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, which came to light in 2004.

The report emphasized the larger accomplishments of the Iraqi people, as symbolized by the successful elections of Jan. 30.

But it gave extensive details about complaints that the government had violated human rights provisions of the transitional law put in place by the US and the Iraqi Governing Council shortly after the 2003 invasion. —NYT

Hostage pleads for help

BAGHDAD

: Kidnapped French journalist Florence Aubenas, taken hostage with her driver in Baghdad more than seven weeks ago, made a desperate appeal for help in a video released by Iraqi insurgents on Tuesday. ‘‘My name is Florence Aubenas. I’m French. I’m a journalist with Liberation,’’ she said on the tape. —Reuters