The Electronic Telegraph Monday 20 January 2003 Tom Knight
Gruesome stories of torture and killings are the subject of an International Olympic Committee investigation into sport in Iraq. The IOC's Ethics Commission confirmed yesterday that they were looking into allegations that Uday Saddam Hussein, the eldest son of the Iraqi leader, presided over a regime of terror while overseeing the country's National Olympic Committee. The allegations have been lodged by Indict, a London-based human rights group, who claim the headquarters of the Iraqi Olympic Committee in Baghdad contains a prison and torture chamber. Ann Clwyd, the Welsh MP who is chairwoman and a founding member of Indict, said: "Uday is a sadistic killer who personally tortures athletes and uses the NOC as a front for smuggling and corruption. Indict has collected signed testimony from Olympic athletes to support these accusations. Many others, even those living in Britain, are still too scared to come forward." Charles Forrest, the chief executive of Indict, said: "We believe 50 athletes have been killed and the atrocities are connected with Uday." Among the allegations is that Saddam Hussein's son made a group of track athletes crawl on newly paved asphalt while they were beaten with a cable and ordered others to be thrown off a bridge. Forrest added that the IOC had begun interviewing Iraqi victims now based in the United States. Indict, which receives three-quarters of its funding from the United States Congress, was set up six years ago with the aim of bringing tyrants before an international tribunal. "Uday has always been one of our top targets," Forrest said. "We believe he has violated at least 11 provisions of the IOC's code of ethics." The IOC Ethics Commission was set up four years ago to monitor the behaviour of members in the wake of the corruption scandal surrounding Salt Lake City's bid for the 2002 Winter Olympics. Iraq, which sent four athletes to the Sydney Games and have won only one Olympic medal - a weightlifting bronze at the 1960 Rome Games - escaped sanctions in 1997 when FIFA interviewed players in Baghdad over allegations that Uday had ordered the torture of members of the national football team after they had lost a key match. Clwyd called the FIFA investigation "a disgraceful whitewash". She said: "You can't expect athletes interviewed in Iraq to commit suicide by telling the truth. The IOC must deal with these allegations in a much more serious manner. To allow Iraq to participate in the Olympic movement is to mock all of the Olympics' high principles." Eamonn Condon [EMAIL PROTECTED]
