Calls for preservation of mass graves.

Ann Clwyd, special envoy on human rights for the British government, speaking in Iraq, said today that mass graves must be preserved and retained in order that foreign officials collate evidence ahead of possible war crimes prosecutions.

The Labour MP for Cynon Valley insisted that Saddam Hussein’s government had kept records of its killings.

At a news conference in Baghdad, she said: ‘If that documentation is preserved, then it can be used in future war crimes trials against some of the main perpetrators of those abuses.

‘We want to see forensic scientists showing other people how you examine the evidence, and how important it is, if possible, to leave the bodies untouched, even though families obviously will want to find out if their husbands, sons, wives, children are in those graves, she added.