Similar article the day before suggests Iran-controlled Shiites
are doing most of the death-squadding since they can use
the cover and physical resources of the Iraqi interior
ministry, and Shiites say US CIA, FBI and military are in
their prisons(elbow to elbow along with osp's pied
stovepiper Ahmed Chalabi's Iranian intel!):
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/
11/AR2005121101002_pf.html
Abuse Cited In 2nd Jail Operated by Iraqi Ministry
Official Says 12 Prisoners Subjected to 'Severe Torture'
By Ellen Knickmeyer
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, December 12, 2005; A01
BAGHDAD,
Dec. 11 -- An Iraqi government search of a detention center
in Baghdad
operated by Interior Ministry special commandos found 13
prisoners who
had suffered abuse serious enough to require medical
treatment, U.S.
and Iraqi officials said Sunday night.
An Iraqi official with
firsthand knowledge of the search said that at least
12 of the 13
prisoners had been subjected to "severe torture," including
sessions of
electric shock and episodes that left them with broken bones.
"Two
of them showed me their nails, and they were gone," the official said
on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.
Investigators said they found 625 prisoners at the center but
declined to
give details about them. Most of the detainees found at the
secret prison
last month were Sunni Arabs who had been picked up by
forces of the
Shiite Muslim-dominated Interior Ministry.
"The
team discovered a number of problems, which the ministries of
Interior
and Human Rights are working together to correct," the
statement said.
"The facility was overcrowded: As a result, the Ministry
of Justice has
agreed to receive 75 detainees from this facility at Rusafa
Prison;
Iraqi judges released 56 detainees directly following the inspection
. .
. . Thirteen of the detainees were removed from the detention facility
to receive medical treatment.''
Rudisill said the 56 freed
prisoners were released on the recommendation
of Iraqi judges who took
part in the inspection. "They quickly looked through
and found in these
cases specifically there were no reasons to hold these
individuals," he
said.
The Iraqi government, led by Shiite parties with strong ties to
Iran, has
strongly rejected allegations of Iranian intelligence
involvement in Interior
Ministry prisons.
The Iraqi Interior
Ministry has a significant number of former militia
members and members
of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution
in Iraq, a Shiite
party that is the largest in the government.
The country's Sunni
minority has accused the Interior Ministry of taking a
leading role in
severe abuses, including the targeting of Sunnis by alleged
death
squads. Since the current government took office in late April, the
bodies of scores["600-900 per month" -TIME] of Sunni men have been found
dumped on roadsides, in
dry riverbeds and in fields. Most of the men were
found handcuffed and
shot. In several cases, family members have said the
men were taken
away by people in Interior Ministry uniforms and vehicles.
Last week, the Interior Ministry fired its top human rights
official, Nouri
Nouri, without providing an explanation.
Sunni
political leaders charge that similar incidents of torture are
occurring
at other Interior Ministry detention facilities and have
identified some of the
sites by name.
Shiite political leaders
say the U.S. military frequently visits the facilities and
suggest that
American authorities would know about any abuse. Authorities
have identified more than 1,000 detention centers across Iraq.
Bob wrote:
Saleh Mutlak, a Sunni politician, acknowledged that torture
was prevalent
under the Sunni-dominated government of
ousted president Saddam
Hussein. "But not as bad," he said.
CNN Wolf Blitzer 12/12/2005
Michael Ware, TIME magazine bureau chief, Baghdad: "Civil war
is underway...Iraqi morgues reporting twenty to thirty death-squad
victims arrive per day" (600-900 per month)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/
12/AR2005121201389_pf.html
Iraqi Premier Decries Torture of Detainees
Jafari Reacts to Discovery of Abuses
By Ellen Knickmeyer
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, December 13, 2005; A18
BAGHDAD,
Dec. 12 -- Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari on Monday said he
would not
tolerate torture by the Shiite-dominated government police
forces,
renewing his condemnation of the practice after U.S. and Iraqi
forces
found abused, starved detainees at a Interior Ministry detention
center.
U.S.
and Iraqi officials on Sunday said they had discovered at least 12
cases of what an Iraq official called "severe torture" at a prison run
by
the Interior Ministry's special police commandos.
Prisoners
had their bones broken and their fingernails pulled out, were
subjected
to electric shocks and had burning cigarettes crushed into
their necks
and backs, said the Iraqi official, who U.S. officials said had
first-hand knowledge of the torture. The Iraqi official spoke on
condition
he not be named, fearing retribution.
The cases
appeared more severe than those of beaten, emaciated
prisoners found in
the basement of another Baghdad Interior Ministry
facility last month.
U.S. and Iraqi officials have declined to say whether the tortured
inmates
at the second prison, like those at the first, were Sunni
Arabs, saying they
feared political fallout in Thursday's national
elections.
The prison inspected on Thursday was the first of what U.S. and
Iraqi
officials had promised would be a national investigation of
Iraq's 1,000-plus
detention centers. The inspections were announced
after the first case
was uncovered last month. U.S. military spokesman
Lt. Col. Barry Johnson
said the unannounced inspections would continue.
The
prison-torture cases have drawn unusual public rebukes by U.S.
officials against the U.S.-supported interim Iraqi government.
Members
of Iraq's Sunni Muslim minority allege that former militiamen of
Shiite
religious parties are leading a campaign of jailings and killings that
targets Sunnis. Many former militia fighters have jointed the Interior
Ministry forces.
Scores["600-900 per month" -Bob] of handcuffed Sunni men have been
found
shot and killed around the country since Jafari's government took
office in April.
The interim Shiite majority government is
fighting a Sunni-led insurgency,
in which thousands of civilians and
security force members have been
killed.
In Baghdad, Saleh Mutlak, a Sunni politician, said Monday that
torture was
common in Iraq's prisons.
"The
problem is that people think this is the only one, that it's a surprise
thing for the government," he said. "Any prison now in Iraq you will
find
the same."
Mutlak acknowledged that torture was prevalent
under the
Sunni-dominated government of ousted president Saddam
Hussein.
"But not as bad," he said.
Complete archives at http://www.sitbot.net/
Please let us stay on topic and be civil.
OM
YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS
