Iraq Denies Charges Of Mass Executions

Iraq denied a State Department allegation that it had executed hundreds - perhaps thousands - of political detainees in recent weeks, dismissing the claim Thursday as U.S. and British lies.

“The Clinton administration and the British government have tried all manner of misleading propaganda against Iraq and they have failed,” the Information Ministry said. “This new (propaganda) will not have more luck than the previous ones.”

The denial was uncommon, since the Baghdad government routinely ignores such allegations.

State Department spokesman James Foley said Wednesday the U.S. received credible reports that Iraq may have ordered the execution of “hundreds, if not thousands” of political detainees in past weeks.

The reports said many of those killed were serving sentences of 15 to 20 years for crimes such as insulting the regime or belonging to an opposition political party.

Iraqi opposition groups in exile also have reported wide-scale executions. In London on Monday, the exiled leadership of the Iraqi Communist Party said Saddam Hussein’s regime had executed 1,500 prisoners and detainees during 1997, including 109 political prisoners on Nov. 21 in Abu Gharaib prison.