The imprisonment and torture of the Kurdish political prisoners in Iraq from 1979 to 1991

Abstract

The current study investigates The imprisonment and torture of the Kurdish political prisoners in Iraq from 1979 to 1991, which was the period of tyranny and oppression of Saddm Hussen.

Baathists used different methods of governance to protect their power and maintain their status. furthermore, they tried hard to control every single individual in the society, to achieve that they used imprisonment to spread fear amongst their enemies. However, due to the powerful position of the Kurdish liberator movement in the southern Kurdistan and the oppression of the rebels by the Baathists a number of Kurdish political activists were imprisoned and tortured, the methods of torture included; physical torture and psychological torture to make the prisoners confess,

The Baathists did not allow the presence of any opposition and misalignment of their ideology which led to the birth of opposing political parties and communities to maintain and preserve their  national identity as well as protecting democracy. This long term conflict resulted in the imprisonment of hundreds of political activists  and they were brutally tortured to oblige them to confess and give information about their fellow citizens.