Iraq displays torture devices used on athletes
Last Updated: Sunday, July 25, 2004 | 12:04 PM ET
CBC News
Athletes who didn't meet his expectations were punished with instruments reminiscent of a medieval-style torture chamber.
Iraqi Olympic Committee official Talib Mutan said those devices included everything from finger vises to chain whips with steel barbs. As head of the Iraqi Olympic committee during his father's regime, Uday Hussein also forced some underperforming athletes to wear a suffocating steel mask, Mutan said.
Another item on display at al-Shaab Stadium in Baghdad was a head-to-toe steel chamber with interior spikes.
Iraqi Olympic Committee worker Sadad Hussain Ali demonstrates a finger vise at al-Shaab Stadium (AP photo)
Saddam's eldest son, who along with his brother Qusay was killed by U.S. forces last July, was also said to have tortured members of Iraq's national soccer team.
The International Olympic Committee reinstated Iraq's national Olympic committee in February, after suspending it in early 2003.
Iraq's Olympic committee was reinstated by the International Olympic Committee in February, 10 months after it was dismantled following the fall of Saddam's regime.
Thirty-one Iraqi athletes plan to compete in next month's Olympic Games in Athens.
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