Pressure is mounting on the International Olympic Committee to investigate allegations that Iraqi Olympic athletes were imprisoned and tortured on orders of Saddam Hussein's son.

	BLOOD ON THE RINGS
	Read ESPN's series on the torture of Iraqi athletes and other allegations of abuse at the Iraqi Olympic Committee headquarters. The report includes first-person accounts by former Iraqi soccer, volleyball and weightlifting athletes; a dossier of the alleged atrocities; a chat session with Uday Hussein's former body double; and an ESPN.com poll on the issues.

Richard Pound, an IOC member from Canada and former vice president of the organization, said an ESPN series on the topic in December prompted him to write IOC president Jacque Rogge and urge a probe into whether the Olympic charter has been violated.

"I've sent a couple more messages since then as well, saying this is not something that is going to go away and that we need to deal with it seriously," Pound said.

The report detailed allegations from soccer, volleyball, weightlifting and boxing athletes who described the systematic torture of athletes, sometimes in a secret prison on the first floor of the Iraqi National Olympic Committee headquarters in Baghdad. The president of that Olympic committee is Uday Hussein, the eldest son of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Indict, a London-based human rights group that receives funds from the U.S. State Department, filed a formal complaint with the IOC Ethics Commission in December asking that Iraq be suspended from the Olympics. The group's complaint included an affidavit and photos alleging torture of a former table tennis player on the national team.

"You have standards of decency and behavior that need to be observed" by national Olympic committees, Pound said. "You can make the case that this is a situation that's hard (for the IOC) to duck."

The IOC has not commented on the issue since Dec. 20 when spokeswoman Giselle Davies issued a statement to ESPN saying the IOC is "concerned" about allegations of mistreatment and that the organization "strongly condemns any violation of athletes rights."

Charles Forrest, CEO of Indict, said he has not received word from the IOC about whether its ethics commission decided to move ahead with a formal investigation. The IOC also did not respond to ESPN requests about the status of complaint from Indict.

The IOC has a long history of declining to take action against national Olympic committees for any reason. Among the few exceptions: South Africa, amid severe international pressure, was suspended from the Olympics in 1971 for its apartheid policies; the ban lasted two decades. Afghanistan, under the Taliban, was suspended in 1999 after the IOC concluded that the national committee had "no real control over sport in its country."

The IOC prides itself on its ability to set aside domestic and political issues and, like the United Nations, bring the world's nations together for its events. Despite protests about China's human rights record, the IOC awarded the 2008 Olympics to Beijing, where some citizens allegedly have been executed in sports stadiums.

At the time, Amnesty International took no official position on China's Olympic bid.

"But when there's a direct link to the Olympic movement, as there is in Iraq, the IOC ought to investigate, make public their findings, and take appropriate action," said Amnesty International spokesperson Alistair Hodgett.

Hodgett said Amnesty International is considering bringing pressure on the IOC to act on the allegations but has made no decisions. He said the reports of torture cited in the ESPN report are "consistent with the accounts" Amnesty International has received from non-athletes in Iraq.

"The Olympic charter reflects a tradition of human rights," Hodgett said. "We appeal to the IOC to live up to that charter, as torture does not seem compatible with their (values). The Olympic charter shouldn't be just a set of warm, welcome words. They should be words the organization is willing to stand behind."

On its Web site, the IOC describes its mission as "strongly encouraging" the "protection of athletes." Indict contends the Iraqi Olympic Committee also has violated at least 11 provisions in the IOC Code of Ethics, including one stating, "No practice constituting any form of physical or mental injury to the participants will be tolerated."

Some IOC representatives are at least intrigued by the allegations. Alex Gilady, an IOC member from Israel, said in a statement to ESPN.com that he has "inquired with IOC regarding" the recent allegations of tortured Iraqi athletes and was told the ethics commission is handling the matter.

Currently, however, members of the ethics commission do not appear to be investigating the allegations. Swedish alpine skier Pernilla Wiberg, one of seven members of the commission and its only athlete, said the allegations "sound terrible." However, she said, "it is very hard for me to put it into a perspective because here in Europe I have not read anything about it. Therefore I cannot comment on this matter."

Bob Ctvrtlik, a new IOC member and former U.S. volleyball star, said in late December that he is interested in seeing the ethics committee explore the issue.

"What could be a greater atrocity than having some athletes tortured?" Ctvrtlik said on ESPN's Outside the Lines. "At the same time you have to realize the IOC is compromised of (126 members from 81) different countries, and everyone has cultural differences and ways they look at things. We're a very slow, methodical body (that waits) before we take action. But these are very serious allegations, and if they're substantiated, we'll definitely take some action."

The issue is muddied by the politics of war. Much of the rest of the world is opposed to any U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and even Europeans are reluctant to give President Bush another reason to justify an attack. Amnesty International criticized the British government in December for releasing a dossier of human-rights abuses in Iraq at a time when the U.S. ally was trying to help build support for military action.

"I do see that this is too complex," said Roland Baar, an IOC member from Germany.

Amnesty International, though, says that political issues and Indict's ties to the U.S. government should not discourage the IOC from initiating a probe. "It doesn't matter who points out the violations," Hodgett said. "What matters is whether the IOC acts on the information and does so in a timely manner."

On the other hand, if there is an invasion to remove the Hussein family could render the issue moot for the IOC.

Technical issues in investigating Iraq also present a challenge. In 1997, the world governing body for soccer, FIFA, sent officials to Baghdad for two days to check out reports that soccer players were punished after a World Cup qualifying game. Their findings exonerated Iraq but were later derided by former player Sharar Haydar, now in exile in London, who said team members were in fact tortured but couldn't tell the truth for fear of retribution.

FIFA will not launch a new investigation based on the latest revelations, spokesman Andreas Herren said.

"You can well imagine that as a (sports organization) without any judicial or (investigative) authority our means are very limited, even more so if you consider the difficulties the international community faces when dealing with Iraq," Herren said, alluding to historical reluctance of Iraqi officials to cooperate with the United Nations.

Haydar, who said he was caned on his feet and forced to jump in sewage water with a bloodied back while in Iraq, expressed frustration with FIFA in December for its lack of interest in the torture of athletes.

"What (evidence) do they want?" he said. "I mean, I am one of those players."

Haydar said that since the ESPN report, he has told Indict that he is willing to add his account to the set of affidavits the group has submitted to the IOC. Issam Thamer al-Diwan, a volleyball player who also spoke in the report, said he will submit to the IOC a list of athletes who have been executed by the Iraqi regime, ostensibly for political reasons.

Jacques Rogge, the IOC president, and Keba Mbaye, chair of the ethics commission, did not respond to requests for comment. Both are key players in any decision on how to move forward with the allegations.

"This is not going away," Hodgett said.

Tom Farrey is a senior writer with ESPN.com. He can be reached at tom.farrey@espn3.com.