in the regime's security services. Residents of Mosul said that the charges were not serious enough to justify the executions.

On 28 October, "Iraq Press" reported a tenth execution of a dissident belonging to a clandestine political party, a Nasirite organization adhering to the thinking of the late Egyptian leader Gamal Abdul Nasir. Last December, authorities had executed four leading members of this group. And last week UN Special Reporter Andreas Mavromattis, who monitors human rights in Iraq, accused the authorities of human rights violations regarding the rights of women, religious persecution, torture, and degrading punishment. He also said there has been no let-up in extra-judicial killings and arbitrary executions on account of political opinion and ethnicity. (David Nissman)

IRAQI OIL SMUGGLING EXAMINED.
Two companies have been identified as being smugglersof Iraqi oil, the "Oil Daily" of 29 October reported. Although the companies -- U.K.-based Trafigura and the French-based trader Ibex -- handle regular crude exports from Iraq under UN oversight, they also allegedly handled an additional 500,000 barrels on the side. Trafigura bought 3.6 million barrels in official Iraqi crude. The smuggled oil was transported on the vessel Essex. The UN has discovered that two shipments on the Essex, on 13 May and 27 August, were topped off after UN inspectors signed off on the regular intake.

The value of the smuggled 500,000 barrels was $11.7 million. The proceeds from the smuggled oil ended up in bank accounts controlled by the Iraqi government, in violation of UN sanctions.

A subsidiary of Trafigura, Roundhead Inc. bought the 500,000 barrels from