The publication of the photographs of Saddam Hussein

dublin | anti-war / imperialism | opinion/analysis Wednesday June 01, 2005 06:27 by Astrid Essed

The publication of the photographs of Saddam Hussein by the Sun is not only a flagrant violation of the 3th Geneva Convention, it also violates the human right on dignity of every prisoner of war, regardless of the crime

This letter has been also published by Al-Jazeerah dd 23st of may

To Mr. Dudman, managing Editor of the Sun

Dear Mr. Dudman,

I want to ask your attention for the following:

I have learnt with great surprise and concern, that your newspaper has recently published a series of photo's regarding the former president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein clad only in his underwear, as well being clothed and doing some washing, titling ''Tyrants in his pants''

Also I was very shocked by your reaction on the protests, which were rightly uttered by as well the US military as the Red-Cross because of the possible violation of the Geneva Convention as well as the violating of the American military guidelines.

I hereby citate your reaction:

''"This is a man who has murdered a minimum of 300,000
people and we're supposed to feel sorry for him because someone's taken
his
picture?"
"He's not been mistreated. He's washing his trousers. This is the
modern-day Adolf Hitler. Please don't ask us to feel sorry for him."

End of the citation

A The publication of the photographs:

Mr Dudman, in the first place I want to remind you of the fact, that according to the rules of civilisation as well as journalistic ethics it is highly unacceptable to publish those obviously humiliating pictures in your newspaper.
In the second place the publication of those pictures is also a violation of the rules of the 3th Geneva Convention, which forbids the humiliation
of prisoners of war, aimed to satisfy the public curiosity. [article 13 and 14]

B Your reaction on the protests:

Moreover I was shocked by your reaction on the protests, by which you implicitly suggested that publication of humiliating photographs of a prisoner of war should be dependant of his real or alleged involvement with serious war-crimes.

Mr Dudman, although I agree with you on the fact, that the former president of Iraq can be hold responsible for very serious crimes of war, which took place under his regime, he like any other human being has the same rights on a humane treatment and respect for his dignity.

In this respect I want to remind you on the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the international humanitarian law-rules regarding human rights.

You, being one of the editors of a widespread newspaper like the Sun,
has especially a moral and journalistic responsibility towards the British
public to maintain those principles by respecting the privacy and dignity of any human being in general and prisoners of war in the hands of the British-American coalition-troops inparticular, regardless of their real or alleged responsibility for war-crimes.

When you continue to publish photo's of this level you are not only undermining your credibility regarding your respect for human rights, you also enlarge the risk for possible British-American prisoners of the Iraqi resistance to be also exposed to humiliating publication.

Therefore I appeal to you to witness of a real respect for human rights and dignity and to stop further humiliating and degrading publication towards any prisoner of war.

Human rights rules are appliable on all prisoners of war, not only the military party to which you may sympathise.

Much regards
Astrid Essed
Amsterdam
The Netherlands


P/S Hereby I sent to two links regarding Human Rights

Universal Declaration of Human Rights
See link http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html

The 3th Geneva Convention
See link
http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/7c4d08d9b287a42141256739003e636b/6fef854a3517b75ac125641e004a9e68