![Iraq president rejects rights comparison to Saddam regime](https://www.jurist.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/jurist-white-text.png)
[JURIST] Iraqi President Jalal Talabani [BBC profile] has dismissed as "nonsense" allegations [Observer report] by former Iraqi Prime Minister and current parliamentary candidate Iyad Allawi that human rights abuses by Iraqi Shiites [JURIST report] are as bad as they were under Saddam Hussein's regime. In an interview [recorded video; excerpted transcript] with the BBC, Talabani said that no comparison can be made between recent reports of death squads and secret torture chambers [JURIST report] cannot be compared to Hussein's Iraq, which Talabani said devolved into "concentration camps on the ground and mass graves underground." Talabani said that Iraqis now enjoy a host of democratic rights, including freedom of expression and free elections. BBC News has more.