VOA常速英语2007-Amnesty International Details Killings and Tortu

By Sonja Pace
London
01 October 2007

The human rights group Amnesty International says the Iraqi government and the U.S.-led multi-national forces must do more to protect Palestinians living in Iraq. In its latest report released today in London, Amnesty says scores of Palestinians are known to have been killed, while thousands languish¹ in refugee camps and many others continue to live in fear inside Iraq. VOA's Sonja Pace reports from London.

The Amnesty International report paints a dire² picture of the dangers facing Palestinians in Iraq.

It cites the case of a 55-year-old blacksmith who goes out for a bite to eat and never comes back. Two days later his body is found in a morgue bearing marks of torture.

In another incident, a trader is abducted³ from his car by armed men. He is later shot and his body left lying in the street. A taxi driver is abducted by armed men. Two days later the abductors use his mobile phone to tell his family to collect his body from the morgue.

Amnesty says the exact number of Palestinains killed in Iraq since the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime in 2003 is hard to pinpoint⁴, but researcher Said Boumedouha, tells VOA he believes the number may be in the hundreds.

"They get kidnapped and then tortured in a horrible way, with a drill, the bodies would be mutilated and found thrown in the streets or taken by the police to the morgue," said Boumedouha.

Palestinians have been living in Iraq for decades, many fled there after the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. According to U.N. estimates, about 34,000 Palestinians used to live in Iraq, mostly in Baghdad.

But Amnesty says when the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003, Palestinians found themselves targeted, particularly by armed Shiite militia⁵ groups because of their ethnicity and because they were seen to have received preferential treatment under Saddam.

Thousands of Palestinians fled their homes, some managed to leave the country, but more than 2,000 continue to languish in squalid conditions in refugee camps on either side of the Iraq-Syria border.

The number of Palestinian victims in Iraq's sectarian and religious conflict pales in comparison to the death toll⁶ among Iraqis. But Amnesty researcher Boumedouha says the plight⁷ of the Palestinians has gone mostly unreported.

"They [the Palestinians] do not have anyone to defend them basically," said Boumedouha. "They do not have an armed group to protect them, unlike for example, the Shia and the Sunni. So, we wanted to draw attention of the international community to this small minority that is suffering in silence."

It is estimated there are now less than 15,000 Palestinians living in Iraq. Amnesty International is calling for the Iraqi government and the U.S.-led multi-national forces to do more to protect them, for neighboring countries to offer them a safe haven⁸, and for the U.S. and British governments to help resettle them.

1 languish   

vi.变得衰弱无力，失去活力，（植物等）凋萎

参考例句：

• Without the founder's drive and direction,the company gradually languished.没有了创始人的斗志与指引，公司逐渐走向没落。
• New products languish on the drawing board.新产品在计划阶段即告失败。

2 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

3 abducted   

劫持，诱拐( abduct的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（肢体等）外展

参考例句：

• Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that she was abducted. 侦探尚未排除她被绑架的可能性。
• The kid was abducted at the gate of kindergarten. 那小孩在幼儿园大门口被绑架走了。

4 pinpoint   

vt.准确地确定；用针标出…的精确位置

参考例句：

• It is difficult to pinpoint when water problems of the modern age began.很难准确地指出，现代用水的问题是什么时候出现的。
• I could pinpoint his precise location on a map.我能在地图上指明他的准确位置。

5 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

6 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

7 plight   

n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定

参考例句：

• The leader was much concerned over the plight of the refugees.那位领袖对难民的困境很担忧。
• She was in a most helpless plight.她真不知如何是好。

8 haven   

n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所

参考例句：

• It's a real haven at the end of a busy working day.忙碌了一整天后，这真是一个安乐窝。
• The school library is a little haven of peace and quiet.学校的图书馆是一个和平且安静的小避风港。