Vol. 432 No. 3
56 Mr. Sargent asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if he has made representations through diplomatic channels to help secure the immediate and unconditional release of Aziz al-Sayyid Jassem, a well-known Iraqi writer and journalist, who has been detained in Iraq for almost two years, allegedly because he refused to write articles supporting the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and about whom there has been no definite news since January 1992.
Ireland's Embassy in Iraq has been closed since January 1991 and first hand information on human rights cases in that country, including the case mentioned by the Deputy, is not available.
However, I have arranged for inquiries to be made with the office of the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights Situation in Iraq, Mr. Max van der Stoel, who has been asked by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to report on the situation in that country.
Should I receive any information about the case in question, I will be happy to advise the Deputy accordingly.
