HRW said key evidentiary materials against Saddam have been "lost or tainted."

CAIRO, November 4 (IslamOnline.net) – US-led occupation forces failed in clear negligence to safeguard official documents that are crucial evidence against former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Thursday, November 4.

"As a result, crucial evidence for the upcoming trials of Saddam and other former Iraqi officials has likely been lost or seriously tainted," the New York-based group said in a press release sent to IslamOnline.net.

The 41-page report, " Iraq : The State of the Evidence," explains in detail the loss of key archival and forensic evidence that the US-led occupation forces, and more recently, the Iraqi interim government failed to secure.

The American human rights watchdog said former Iraqi officials left behind volumes of official papers documenting criminal policies and practices in April 2003.

In the past year and a half, more than 250 mass graves have been identified, some of which contain the remains of thousands of victims of Saddam’s rule, said the HRW.

"Given what’s at stake here, the extent of this negligence is alarming," said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of the Middle East and North Africa Division of HRW.

"US and Iraqi authorities were aware that these documents and remains would be crucial to the prosecution of Saddam and other former officials, but they did little to safeguard them," Whitson charged.

Saddam is currently in the custody of the interim government but under the protection of the American forces, awaiting trial on charges of crimes against humanity.

He was captured by the US forces in December hiding in a small hole at a farm near his hometown of Tikrit.

Lost or Tainted

The HRW report further enhances the suspicion among ordinary Iraqis that US-British invasion of the oil-rich country was not meant to get rid of Saddam or bring him to justice.

The group said that in the weeks and months following the invasion, US-led forces failed to prevent people from freely looting thousands of official documents, or to keep relatives of "disappeared" persons from digging up remains found in some mass grave sites.

The forces were then lax in not putting in place experts and providing assistance to ensure that remains were properly exhumed and classified, said the HRW.

"As a result, it is very likely that key evidentiary materials have been lost or tainted."

Furthermore, the watchdog said in the case of mass graves, these failures have also frustrated the ability of families to know the fate of thousands of missing relatives who "disappeared" during Saddam's rule.

It urged Iraq ’s interim government, with international assistance, to set up a joint Iraqi and international commission for missing persons to establish effective procedures for protecting mass graves and conducting exhumations, and a similar body to oversee the handling of documents of the former government.

"This material needs urgent attention. The evidence will be critical to any upcoming trial proceedings," Whitson said.

"And it will also be crucial for Iraqis as they attempt to construct an accurate record of the atrocities they suffered under Baath Party rule."

Many of the Iraqi civilians have borne the brunt of dominating anarchy and chaos that dominated Iraq after the beginning of the US invasion.

They blamed these acts on the US forces for turning a blind eye and only rushed to encircle the Oil Ministry headquarters for protection.

While other buildings, including the unique Iraqi National Museum which contain irreplaceable artifacts going back to 10,000 years, were open targets to pillaging.