, of the State. Disappearances of individuals and killings of person6 were mainly the work of rioters. Some persons who had been reported to have disappeared, had in fact fled the country. 629, The representative then expressed regret that comments made by members of the Committee had sometimes been prompted by prejudice or unconfirmsd rumours; he drew attention to the effort made by his Government to provide the Committee with information in its report, which had been drafted in accordance with the Committee's decision of 11 April 1991 at a timo when the Iraqi While he authorities were still suffering from the effects of recent events. respected the Committee’s interpretation of its own competence, he could not provide the information requested concerning the Kuwait crisis because that inform&ion was in the possession of the Iraqi Minister for Foreign Affairs, the United Nations Security Council and the International Committee of the Bed Cross. 630. The representative stated further that his country’6 authorities had not envisaged including any new crimes among those punishable by death. He then denied all allegations concerning summary trials or the execution of children in Iraq. Capital punishment was commuted to life imprisonment when the convicted offender was between ES and 20 years of age, and all Iraqi courts strictly applied the Code of Criminal Procedure. 631. with regard to the cases of involuntary disappearance that cleared up, the representative said that that matter concerned tribe in northern Iraq composed of more than 2,300 persons who collaborated with Iran during its occupation of Iraqi territory left the territory with the occupation forces. had not been primarily a had and who had 632. The representative further denied that the Iraqi armed force6 had used chemical weapons against civilians. The availability of appeal to the Court of Cassation in criminal cases made it possible to ensure that sentences were fair and legal; the two persons executed in 1990 to whom the Committee had referred had been sentenced to the death penalty for the crime of espionage. Although the Iraqi people had suffered through the economic blockade imposed on his country, the infant mortality rate in Iraq, particularly among nursing infants, had decreased by 40 per cent and was continuing to decline at the rate of 10 per cent per annum. -of nrisoners and &her detw 633. With regard to that issue , members of the Committee wished to know what sanctions were provided for acts of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and how often they had been applied during the reporting period. In this connection, they asked whether there were any independent and impartial procedure6 under which complaint6 could be made and investigated about the ill-treatment of inaividuals by the police, by members of the security forces, or by prison officials. They also requested additional information concerning the role of the representative of the Department of Public Prosecution in investigating complaints of maltreatment or poor health condition6 in detention centres. 634. Members of the Committee also wished to know how many ca6e6 of torture there had been involving military personnel and members of the security forces -153-