Hold tight, here is a Human Rights report published in 1996 by the US State Department specifically quoting HRW regarding Human Rights conditions in Iraq. Correct me if I am wrong, but this sounds pretty much like the UK Dossier:
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom from:
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
The security services routinely torture detainees, even though the Government is a party to international conventions against torture and the Constitution prohibits the practice. In his November report, the Special Rapporteur noted the Government’s systemic use of physical and psychological torture, especially in southern Iraq. According to former detainees, torture techniques include brandings, electric shocks administered to the genitals and other areas, beatings, burnings with hot irons, suspension from ceiling fans, dripping acid on the skin, rape, breaking of limbs, denial of food and water, and threats to rape or otherwise harm relatives. Tormentors kill many torture victims and mutilate their bodies before returning them to the victims’ families.
The regime continues to practice amputation of ears and hands, as well as branding, as punishment for crimes ranging from theft to military desertion. Eyewitnesses reported that the Government carried out second amputations and brandings on repeat offenders and on those who sought corrective surgery for earlier disfigurements. In some of these cases, the regime executed the offenders as well as the doctors who either performed corrective surgery or refused to carry out amputations. In his November report, the Special Rapporteur concluded that the amputations and brandings are “gross violations of human rights.”
Several government officials cited Islamic law (Shari’a) as a rationale for amputating the right hands of convicted thieves, but none commented on the punishments imposed on repeat offenders or the Government’s disregard for rights protected under Islamic law. One senior official claimed that brandings were instituted in order to avoid confusing criminals with war veterans who had lost limbs in battle.
The Special Rapporteur, human rights organizations, and opposition groups continue to receive numerous reports of women still suffering severe depression after they were raped while in custody. The security forces allegedly raped women captured during the Anfal Campaign and during the occupation of Kuwait. The Government has never acknowledged these reports of rape or conducted any investigation. Although the regime made a variety of pronouncements against rape and other violent crimes during the year, it took no action against regime activists who committed this abuse.
Certain prisons are notorious for routine mistreatment of prisoners. Al-Rashidiya Prison, on the Tigris River north of Taji, reportedly has torture chambers. The Al-Shamma’iya Prison, located in east Baghdad, holds the mentally ill and is reportedly the site of both torture and disappearances.
The Al-Radwaniyah Prison is a former prisoner-of-war facility near Baghdad and reportedly the site of torture as well as mass executions. This prison was the principal detention center for persons arrested following the civil uprisings of 1991, and returned to prominence in May as the site of executions following an uprising led by members of the Dulaimi clan (see Section 1.a.). Many persons taken into custody in connection with this and other civil uprisings have not been seen since. HRW and others estimate that the Al-Radwaniyah Prison holds more than 5,000 detainees, only a few of whom may have been released following a so-called “amnesty” announcement in July (see Section 1.d.).
There were reports that Iraqi Kurdish groups tortured captured criminal suspects and political opponents. The PKK also reportedly tortured civilians captured in northern Iraq in the latter half of the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
Although the Constitution and Legal Code explicitly prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, the authorities routinely engage in these practices. In his September report, the Special Rapporteur stated that the existence of several repressive laws “quells freedom of thought, information, expression, association, and assembly through fear of arrest.” The military and security services, rather than the ordinary police, carry out most cases of arbitrary arrest and detention. Government officials have linked ending these practices to the lifting of the international embargo. They maintain that the arrests are a temporary preventive measure and do not constitute human rights violations.
In the aftermath of several security incidents, security forces reportedly arrested hundreds of persons perceived as security threats, mainly on the basis of an individual’s personal association or family connection with opponents of the regime. Many of those arrested were reportedly killed while in custody (see Section 1.a.).
According to international human rights groups, numerous foreigners arrested arbitrarily in previous years remain in detention. In March the regime arrested two Americans who unknowingly crossed the Iraqi border with Kuwait. The regime’s efforts to link the fate of the two men to political issues failed, and the two were released in July.
In July the Government issued two “amnesty” decrees: Decree No. 61, for certain convicted criminals, and Decree No. 64 for those convicted of political offenses. The Special Rapporteur noted that Decree No. 61 stipulates that criminals granted amnesty may be convicted again of the same crimes for which they were sentenced and that Decree No. 64 requires those granted amnesty to report to competent authorities in order to benefit. He also noted that because “there is no effective rule of law in Iraq, there will be little confidence in the reliability of amnesty decrees.”
Human rights groups concluded that the amnesties should not be considered legitimate. HRW observed that when some 3,000 residents of southern Iraq came forward for a similar amnesty in 1991, they were placed on trucks and subsequently disappeared. Further, two Iraqis who specifically were granted amnesties before returning from Jordan, where they had earlier defected, were murdered shortly after their return (see Section 1.a.).
There was insufficient information to determine how many persons were released or accepted the amnesties.
The Special Rapporteur and opposition sources reported that the regime continued to target the Shi’a Muslim clergy and their supporters for arbitrary arrest and other abuses. The Government reportedly forced some Shi’a of southern Iraq to move to northern areas near Kirkuk, purportedly to “Arabize” that historically Kurdish area.
At the same time, the Government deported hundreds of Turcomans from their northern Iraqi homes, either to areas outside government control or to southern Iraq. It also refused to allow tens of thousands of Kurds and Turcomans to return to their homes in Kirkuk and Mosul. These forced movements amount to a policy of internal exile (see Section 2.d.). There were no reports that the Government forcibly exiled anyone from Iraq.
…Because the Government rarely acknowledges arrests or imprisonments, it is difficult to estimate the number of political prisoners. Many of the tens of thousands of persons who have disappeared or been killed in recent years were originally held as political prisoners.
…Based on interviews with victims and eyewitnesses, the U.S. Government has concluded that the Iraqi regime engaged in war crimes–willful killing, torture, rape, pillage, hostage-taking, unlawful deportation, and associated acts–directly related to the Gulf War. The U.S. Government continues to urge the U.N. Security Council to establish an international commission to study evidence of a broader range of war crimes, as well as crimes against humanity and possible genocide.
Throughout the year, HRW worked with various governments to bring a genocide case at the International Court of Justice against the Government for its conduct of the Anfal Campaign against the Kurds in 1988. HRW reported that the case is based on the evidence obtained from mass graves, government documents, and interviews with eyewitnesses. HRW and Physicians for Human Rights estimate that between 70,000 and 100,000 Kurds were killed, and up to 4,000 villages destroyed, during the Anfal Campaign. The evidence suggests that government efforts to eliminate Kurdish communities were widespread, systematically planned, and ruthlessly implemented.
i honestly cannot believe that no one finds the timing of these dossiers extremely selective. Yes so he’s a brutal dictator - we have discussed this numerous times. It’s not as though this is a new revelation for any of us. What is interesting though, IMHO, is that every few months around the time of issuing threats against Iraq, we are entertained with fresh stories of his brutality, of nuclear weapons being developed in his palaces, and even - surely the mother of all ironies - of how brutal he has been towards Kurds. 
i suppose all of this has NOTHING whatsoever to do with attempting to sway British public opinion towards favourably considering an attack on Iraq.