Posted on 08/27/2004 4:29:48 PM PDT by freedom44
More than a dozen charred and bloated bodies have been discovered in a religious court set up by Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr in Najaf's Old City, Iraqi police say.
Police on Friday took reporters to a room that had been used as a courthouse, about 200 metres from the Imam Ali shrine, where at least 15 bloated, blackened corpses lay covered in flies.
"We entered the building which was being used as Muqtada al-Sadr's court and we discovered in the basement a large number of bodies of police and ordinary civilians," said the deputy head of the Najaf police, General Amr Hamza al-Daami.
"Some were executed, others were mutilated and others were burned."
But the Islamic court's chief administrator, Hashim Abu Reef, denied the police accusations.
"We denounce this charge. This government is very capable of trying to frame us. Those corpses are our fighters which we could not wash or move because the Iraqi government and Americans cut off the electricity and water," he said.
"There is also one woman who was passing by the shrine and killed by a sniper. We can identify each and every body.
Survivors
A pungent odour of death hung over the courtyard where the bodies lay, their clothes soiled and muddy, an AFP correspondent said.
One witness, Rahri Hussein, said he was close to the Imam Ali mosque when "a young man asked everyone to come to the court building because he said he was tortured there and he was convinced that there were prisoners still being held in there.
"When we got down there we found only two people alive, the uncle of the police chief and a boy. The rest were just dead bodies."
Adil al-Jazairi, the uncle and driver of Najaf police chief Ghalib al-Jazairi, was kidnapped by militiamen on 8 August.
An array of beer cans littered the ground and a national guardsman said: "Look with your own eyes - they drank beer and then they killed."
'Caused by US bombs'
In an interview with Aljazeera, Shaikh Yusuf al-Nasri, head of public relations of al-Sadr's office in Baghdad said: "We do not have detailed information about the incident, but three days ago we announced that the US forces had used banned gas bombs which were dropped on fighters in Najaf."
"Where is Iraq's minister of justice to try the interim government for violations of human rights?"
Shaikh Yusuf al-Nasri, Head of public relations of al-Sadr's office in Baghdad
"The bombs caused the swelling of the faces and made the bodies charred, distended and rotten," he added.
Al-Nasri went on to say that when the ambulances of the Iraqi Red Cross Committee came to evacuate the bodies, they were attacked and all aboard the vehicles were killed. "We think that the US forces had prevented the ambulances so that no one can see the bodies since internationally banned gas bombs were used in the attack."
He also criticised the Iraqi interim government for not condemning this incident. "I hoped to see the Iraq's minister of human rights commenting on the crisis, saying a word or a statement but unfortunately he did not do anything."
"Where is Iraq's minister of justice to try the interim government for violations of human rights?"
Iraqi police and national guardsmen, led by US occupation forces, have been fighting al-Sadr's militia in Najaf and elsewhere for the past three weeks until a peace deal was reached on Thursday night.
We heard 25 bodies this morning.
If this gets enough coverage in Iraq it will help turn the people against Al Sadr.
I can hope.
Oh, dear, and it's Bush's fault, naturally.
The Iraqi police have been saying this all along.
They've been kidnapping them and killing them so they won't be able to recruit them.
This whole situation is not looking good for the so-called government of Iraq. A major criminal and killer walks, not by the hand of the "government" but by some religous leader. And why is this Iranian funded Al-Sadr guy still even alive??? Where is he and is he coming before a court of law, or just turned loose, to create more trouble and kill more coalition troops???
Not an impressive outcome.
God, I miss my Bradleys sometimes....
Seek professional help.
Now.
= )
Shush up, Hop. BFVs are proof that not only is there a God, but that He loves me a lot.
Guess their Playstation was on the fritz.
That was just the traffic court.
I'll wager that we'll be hearing from this filthy al-Sadr vermin and his merry band of killers again. His release will come back to bite the Iraqi interim government hard. There will be many more bloated, blackened corpses covered with flies before al-Sadr is finished.
Gas bombs. Yeah, right.
The Iraqi gov must punish Sadr for murder, or they failed to administer justice imo.
Sounds like some Saddam, Uday or Qusay might be back in business if they weren't under arrest or 6' under.....
Killer punk cleric/
ping
>"The bombs caused the swelling of the faces and made the >bodies charred, distended and rotten," he added.
Yeah, those "speedy decomposition" bombs. Must be from the same guy who created the giant spiders that make every cell explode if the hair touches your skin.
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