Iraq: Palestinian refugees caught in the crossfire

Friday September 28, 2007 23:44 by AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Palestinian refugees living in Iraq are the hidden victims of the Iraq conflict -- suffering threats, torture, killings and appalling living conditions in refugee camps such al-Waleed near the Syrian border, according to a new report by Amnesty International

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The report Iraq: human rights abuses against Palestinian refugees looks at the human rights abuses committed against Palestinians living in Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003 and highlights the lack of action by the Iraqi government and the Multi-National Force to protect them.

“Palestinians are currently one of the most vulnerable groups in Iraq. They are being hunted down, abducted, tortured and, in some cases, killed without any effective steps being taken to protect them,” said Malcolm Smart, Middle East and North Africa Programme Director at Amnesty International. "They also face great obstacles in seeking refuge as the authorities in both Syria and Jordan, the main countries hosting Iraqi refugees, remain extremely reluctant to allow Palestinian refugees to enter their territory, and there is now a pressing need for other countries to resettle those most at risk."

Since 2003, scores of Palestinians have been abducted by armed groups with their bodies being found later in morgues or dumped on the streets, often mutilated or with clear marks of torture. Many others have been forced to flee their homes after receiving death threats. Some are currently in hiding in Iraq or stranded in camps near the Iraq/Syria border, living in extremely harsh conditions.

The joint Palestinian-International Middle East Media Centre put the number of Palestinians killed in Iraq since 2003 at more than 320 by the beginning of this year but this may have been a low estimate. The Representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Lebanon sent Amnesty International a list of nearly 500 names, and the attacks and killings are continuing.

Palestinians are being targeted as a minority group by armed militia groups because they are perceived by some Iraqis to have received preferential treatment under the government of Saddam Hussain. As non-Iraqis who are mainly Sunni Arabs, they have also been suspected of supporting or sympathizing with Sunni Iraqis involved in the insurgency against the predominantly Shi’a government and the Multi-National Force.

On 13 August 2007, Mostafa Ahmad, a 27-year-old taxi driver, was waiting at a petrol station near al-Baladiyat  when he was attacked and abducted by armed men believed to belong to the Mahdi Army, a militia-type force loyal to Shi'a religious leader Moqtada al-Sadr.

Two days later, the abductors used his mobile phone to call his family and told them that they could collect his body from the morgue. A relative who saw the body told Amnesty International that Mostafa Ahmad had drill holes in his corpse and his teeth appeared to have been ripped out with pliers. He had also been shot six times in the head and upper body. No investigation into his abduction and murder is known to have been initiated.

“The Iraqi government, the Multi-National Force must do all they can to afford effective protection to those at risk in Iraq, including the increasingly beleaguered Palestinian refugee community, and other governments should expand and expedite their refugee resettlement programmes in order to assist this especially vulnerable community,” said Malcolm Smart.

The organization also called on the Syrian and Jordanian governments to allow Palestinian refugees to enter their territory and to the international community at large to assist with the resettlement of Palestinians in line with their international obligations.

The report Iraq: human rights abuses against Palestinian refugees will be available from 1 October at 00:01 GMT on http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE140302007

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