Release Dr. Huda Ammash

Release Dr. Huda Ammash

For over 4 months thousands of Iraqis are being held prisoner under horrendous conditions by U.S./British forces of occupation in Iraq. These conditions have been well documented in the U.S. and British press and the international media. The number of prisoners is growing daily. Under U.S. custody these prisoners face interrogation, coercive confinement.

One of the thousands of prisoners held is Dr Huda Ammash. We are especially concerned with plight of these many prisoners, including Dr Huda Ammash .Her arrest and imprisonment without charges silences the voice of an internationally known, highly qualified scientist who had focused attention on reporting the environmental and industrial contamination caused by the 1991 war.

The International Action Center is part of an international campaign demanding the release of Dr. Huda Ammash. We urge all concerned people to add their name to the following statement urging the release of Dr Ammash and to send letters and make calls for her release to President Bush and members of his administration who are responsible for these arrests and conditions of confinement.

RELEASE DR. HUDA AMMASH

We are a group of international men and women who are deeply concerned about the incarceration of Dr. Huda Ammash. Dr. Ammash, a University of Missouri graduate and Iraqi mother, wife, teacher, and scientist, has been held in prison without charge by US military authorities in Iraq since May, 2003. Citizens around the world are concerned about the civil rights of Professor Ammash, who has been deprived since May of contact with her family, her children and husband, denied knowledge of the charges against her, and denied information about her release.

Under international law, which both U.S. and British government are signatories, all prisoners have a right to communicate with their families, consult with lawyers, receive humane treatment and professional medical care and either charged with a crime or released from custody.

We call for the release of Professor Huda Ammash, former dean of the Women's College at Baghdad University and a highly competent, well published microbiologist. Originally trained in the USA, Ammash returned to her homeland after graduate studies in Texas and completion of her PhD at the University Missouri. She is a distinguished member of the Iraqi academic community and the only woman member of the Iraq Academy of Sciences. Ammash's research and publication record demonstrate her professional abilities; her career as a committed and highly capable university professor is widely acknowledged.

Ammash had dedicated herself to raising her family and helping her students, and since the embargo she has devoted her research inquiries to finding the cause of the alarming rise of certain diseases in Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War. One scientific report that demonstrates the scope and professionalism of her work is "Toxic Pollution, The Gulf War, and Sanctions," contained in the important collection, Iraq Under Siege, published by South End Press (Boston). Some of Dr. Ammash's other publications include: "Impact of Gulf War Pollution in the Spread of Infectious Diseases in Iraq," (Soli Al-Mondo, Rome, 1999), and "Electromagnetic, Chemical, and Microbial Pollution Resulting from War and Embargo, and Its Impact on the Environment and Health," (Journal of the [Iraqi] Academy of Science, 1997).

As a dedicated and conscientious scientist, Ammash became critical of the American policy of maintaining sanctions on Iraq after her research suggested direct links between environmental toxicity and damage from the 1991 bombing and the embargo. She was also critical of the manner in which UNSCOM conducted weapons inspections at Iraqi universities under the leadership of Richard Butler.

In 2001, Ammash was elected to the National Council of Iraq, a select policy-making body, and she soon began to step up her campaign for the removal of the U.N. Embargo. After the UN weapons inspection team returned to Iraq under Hans Blix in November 2002, Blix was apparently urged by US intelligence sources to interview Dr. Ammash. Blix determined that Ammash was in no way connected with weapons research and judged that an interview with her by his office was not called for. Nonetheless, in April, U.S. officials placed Ammash on their list of 55 most wanted Iraqis because of her alleged association with biological weapons production, but no evidence of this connection has surfaced.

There is reason to believe that Dr. Ammash is being tortured to extract political rather than scientific information, although there is no evidence that she has anything relevant to offer. Dr. Ammash's sisters' request to visit her was rejected by US authorities in recent weeks, since her detention.

We sincerely request that you look into this situation immediately and effect the release of Dr.Ammash.

Ramsey Clark, Former Attorney General of the United States; Dr Rosalie Bertell, President of the International Institute of Concern for Public Health and recipient of the Sean McBride Peace Prize; Margarita Papandreau, Former First Lady of Greece; Felicity Farbuthnot, Award winning journalist, UK; Peter Phillips, Editor of Project Censored; Dr. Ruth M.Heifetz, School of Medicine, University of California; Blanche W Cook, Professor of history; and well known author Karen Talbot, NGO representative on behalf of the World Peace Council; Dr.Barbara N. Aziz, Anthropologist, author, journalist and radio producer-WBAI; Lenora Foerstel, Anthropologist and author; Sara Flounders, Co-director of the International Action Center ;Nermeen Al- Mufty, Journalist and co-director of Occupation Watch; David Partridge ,Canon UK

Letters and calls for the release of Dr. Huda Ammash should be sent to:

President George W Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington DC 20500
Phone number: 1 202 456 1414

Secretary Colin L Powell
Department of State
2201 C Street , NW.
Washington DC 20520
1 202 647 4000

Secretary Donald H Rumsfeld
Department of Defense,
1000 Defense ,
The Pentagon
Washington DC 20301
1-703 545 6700

General John Abizaid,US LTGeneral
Central Command, Qatar,
In care of the Department of Defense
1000 Defense ,
The Pentagon
Washington DC 20301
1-703 545 6700

Paul Bremmer,111,Central US Authority in Iraq ,
Department of State
2201 C Street, NW
Washington DC 20520
1 202 647 4000