Key Saddam trial evidence 'lost'

• US-led coalition forces failed to secure relevant sites after last year's invasion of Iraq, the group says. They failed to prevent people from looting thousands of official documents from government buildings.

The US-based human rights organisation has published a 41-page report entitled Iraq: the State of the Evidence.Possible evidence against ex-Iraq officials may be lost as US-led troops failed to secure key sites, a new report says. Coalition forces also failed to stop relatives of some of the many thousands of people who disappeared during Saddam Hussein's rule from digging up remains found at some mass grave sites, the organisation says. Human Rights Watch says the availability of solid documentary and forensic evidence will be a key to the success of any trials in Iraq, corroborating and providing extra weight to witness testimonies. But it says it is likely some evidence has been tainted or lost because of inaction or negligence by US-led coalition forces. Human Rights Watch alleges that the coalition's failure to prevent or minimise the looting and destruction of government buildings in April 2003 led to the widespread removal of state archives, which are now virtually impossible to trace. [more]