IRAQ: Iraqi Group Say Gov. Executed 15

In Cairo, an Iraqi opposition group said Monday that 15 political dissidents had been executed in a prison west of Baghdad.

The claim by the Center for Human Rights, which is linked to the Iraqi Communist Party, could not be independently confirmed. The Iraqi government does not comment on such allegations.

The center, citing unnamed sources inside Iraq, said that the executions took place in the Abu Ghraib prison, west of Baghdad, on July 21 and the bodies were buried at night in a mass grave at al-Karkh cemetery in Baghdad.

A statement faxed to The Associated Press in Cairo said the men had been executed for opposing President Saddam Hussein's regime. So far, the center has reported 33 executions of political prisoners during July.

It said the executions are going on "while the hypocrite rulers claim ... they endeavor to protect the Iraqi people from the dangers of an American aggression and similar other allegations."

President Bush has called for Saddam to be toppled, accusing him of stockpiling weapons of mass destruction and harboring terrorists. In his speech to the U.N. General Assembly last month making his case against Iraq, Bush added concerns about Saddam's human rights, saying: "If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will cease persecution of its civilian population ...."

The Iraqi regime had "probably the worst human rights situation anywhere in the world ... uses the death penalty, rape and torture as a political tool," said the British government report on human rights abuses around the world released on Thursday. British Prime Minister Tony Blair has been Bush's main ally on Iraq.

The Iraqi opposition group urged the international community to send human rights observers to Iraq along with weapons inspectors.

The center is based in the Kurdish autonomous zone of northern Iraq.

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CAIRO, Egypt _ An Iraqi opposition group said Monday that 15   political dissidents had been executed in a prison west of Baghdad.

The claim by the Center for Human Rights, which is linked to the Iraqi Communist Party, could not be independently confirmed. The Iraqi government does not comment on such allegations.

The center, citing unnamed sources inside Iraq, said that the executions took place in the Abu Ghraib prison, west of Baghdad, on July 21 and the bodies were buried at night in a mass grave at al-Karkh cemetery in Baghdad.

  A statement faxed to The Associated Press in Cairo said the men had been executed for opposing President Saddam Hussein's regime. So far, the center has reported 33 executions of political prisoners during July.

It said the executions are going on <while the hypocrite rulers claim ...they endeavor to protect the Iraqi people from the dangers of an American aggression and similar other allegations.>  U.S. President George W. Bush has called for Saddam to be toppled, accusing him of stockpiling weapons of mass destruction and harboring terrorists. In his speech to the U.N. General Assembly last month making his case against Iraq, Bush added concerns about Saddam's human rights, saying: <If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will cease persecution of its civilian population ....>

The Iraqi regime had <probably the worst human rights situation anywhere in the world ... uses the death penalty, rape and torture as a political tool,> said the British government report on human rights abuses around the world released on Thursday. British Prime Minister Tony Blair has been Bush's main ally on Iraq.

The Iraqi opposition group urged the international community to send human rights observers to Iraq along with weapons inspectors.

The center's headquarters are in Irbil in the Kurdish autonomous zone of northern Iraq.