‘Nearly three years after United States (US) and allied forces invaded Iraq and toppled the government of Saddam Hussein, the human rights situation in the country remains dire’, says Amnesty International, introducing its latest report Beyond Abu Ghraib: detention and torture in Iraq.
‘I have lost a year and a half of my life,’ a 43-year-old former security detainee and father of three daughters told Amnesty following his release in September 2005; he alleged that he was ill-treated while held in US detention in Iraq.
In this report, Amnesty International focuses ‘specifically its concerns about human rights abuses for which the US-led MNF (multi-national force) is directly responsible and those which are increasingly being committed by Iraqi security forces.’
Amnesty adds: ‘The record of these forces, including US forces and their United Kingdom (UK) allies, is an unpalatable one.
‘Despite the pre-war rhetoric and post-invasion justifications of US and UK political leaders, and their obligations under international law, from the outset the occupying forces attached insufficient weight to human rights considerations.
‘This remains the position even if the violations by the MNF that are the subject of this report do not have the same graphic, shock quality as the images that emerged in April 2004 and February 2006 showing inmates being tortured and humiliated by US guards at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison and Iraqi youth being beaten by UK troops after they were apprehended during a riot.
‘The same failure to ensure due process that prevailed then, however, and facilitated – perhaps even encouraged such abuses – is evidenced today by the continuing detentions without charge or trial of thousands of people in Iraq who are classified by the MNF as “security internees”.’
The report goes on to give examples of the brutal treatment of detainees at the hands of the Americans, British and puppet Iraqi forces, hundreds of whom have been held without charge for over two years.
Karim R:
‘Karim R a 47-year old imam and preacher (khatib), was detained and tortured by US forces in 2003 and then by Iraqi forces in 2005. On each occasion, he was subsequently released uncharged.
‘He told Amnesty International that he was first detained in October 2003 by US forces in Baghdad, where he lives and is head of a charity.
‘He was insulted, blindfolded, beaten and subjected to electric shocks from a stun gun (taser) by US troops at a detention facility in the Kadhimiya district of Baghdad. After seven days of detention, he was released without charges.
‘Karim R was again detained in May 2005 for 16 days – this time by forces of the Iraqi Interior Ministry at a detention facility they operated in Baghdad.
‘During this detention, he was blindfolded and then beaten and subjected to electric shocks while being hung up in a manner designed to cause him excruciating pain.
‘He told Amnesty International: “They tied my hands to the back with a cable. There was an instrument with a chain which was attached to the ceiling. When they switched it on the chain pulled me up to the ceiling.
“Because the hands are tied to the back this is even more painful (…) Afterwards they threw water over me and they used electric shocks. They connected the current to my legs and also to other parts of my body. (…)
“The first time they subjected me to electric shocks I fainted for 40 seconds or one minute. It felt like falling from a building. I had a headache and was not able to walk.
“The interrogator said: You better confess to terrorist activities, in order to save your life. I responded that I was not involved in these activities and that I had a heart condition. (…)
“Later they forced me to confess on camera. They asked questions claiming that I was a terrorist but they did not even give me the chance to reply. They just stated that I was a terrorist. (…).”
Torture and ill-treatment in Iraqi detention facilities
‘On 13 November 2005, US military forces raided one detention facility controlled by the Interior Ministry in the al-Jadiriyah district of Baghdad, where they reportedly found more than 170 detainees being held in appalling conditions, many of whom alleged that they had been tortured.’
The report adds: ‘After having been detained by a special police force of the Interior Ministry, the Wolf Brigade (11), a 46-year-old housewife from Mosul, Khalida Zakiya, was shown in February 2005 on the Iraqi TV channel al-Iraqiya alleging that she had supported an armed group.
‘However, she later withdrew this confession and alleged that she had been coerced into making it. She was reportedly whipped with a cable by members of the Wolf Brigade and threatened with sexual abuse.’
Palestinians singled out
‘In May 2005 four Palestinians who were long term residents of Iraq – Faraj Abdullah Mulhim, aged about 41, Adnan Abdullah Mulhim, aged about 31, Amir Abdullah Mulhim, aged about 26, and Mas’ud Nur al-Din al-Mahdi, aged about 33 – were tortured and ill-treated after they were detained by members of the Wolf Brigade who took them from their homes in Baghdad.
‘All four were seized on the night of 12 May 2005, when Wolf Brigade forces stormed homes in the Baladiyat Palestinian Building within Baladiyat Camp in Baghdad.
‘They were arrested as suspects in a bomb attack that had been carried out earlier that day in Baghdad’s al-Jadida district although they denied any involvement. Members of the Wolf Brigade were said to have beaten the four men with rifle butts when they arrested them.
‘On 14 May 2005, the four men were shown on the Iraqi TV channel al-Iraqiya admitting responsibility for the al-Jadida bomb attack but all showed visible signs of having been assaulted. Relatives who saw the programme told Amnesty International that the four men had injuries to their faces which led them to suspect that they had been subjected to torture or ill-treatment in order to force them to make confessions.
‘Later, when the men gained access to a lawyer in July 2005 they repudiated their confessions and alleged that they had been systematically tortured for 27 days while being held by the Wolf Brigade in a Ministry of Interior building in the al-Ziyouna district of Baghdad.
‘They stated that they had been beaten with cables and had electric shocks applied to their hands, wrists, fingers, ankles and feet.
‘They also said they were burnt on the face with lighted cigarettes and were placed in a room with water on the floor while an electric current was passed through.
‘They alleged too that a US military officer was present at one time in the room in which they were being interrogated.
‘The four men also allege that they were forced under torture to sign confessions while they were blindfolded in which they also admitted responsibility for five other bomb attacks said to have been committed at police stations in other districts of Baghdad.
‘However, when their lawyer looked into these other alleged bombings he found that they had never taken place and was able to obtain official documentation to confirm this.
‘Nevertheless, the four Palestinians were transferred to the detention of the Major Crimes Directorate (mudiriyat al-jara’im al-kubra) in the Rusafa district of Baghdad on 9 June 2005.’
The report added: ‘At the beginning of 2006 the four Palestinians continued to be held.’
Iraqi bricklayers suffocated to death
In July 2005, continues the report, nine out of a group of twelve men who had been detained by police in Baghdad’s al-Amirya district suffocated to death after they were confined in a police van for up to 14 hours in extremely high temperatures.
The Iraqi authorities said that the 12 were members of an armed group who had been detained after they were engaged in an exchange of fire with US or Iraqi forces.
‘Other sources, however, suggested that they were a group of bricklayers who had been detained on suspicion that they were insurgents and then brutally tortured by police commandoes before being confined in the police vehicle.
‘Medical staff at the Yarmouk Hospital in Baghdad, where the bodies of those who died were taken on 11 July 2005, reportedly confirmed that some of them bore signs of torture, including electric shocks.’
