28.05.2008 - Source: Amnesty International

Torture and ill-treatment by Iraqi security forces, in particular Interior Ministry forces ("Annual Report 2008") [ID 23521]

"Reports of torture and other ill-treatment of detainees, including minors, by Iraqi security forces, particularly Interior Ministry forces, were common. Thousands of prisoners were held in hugely overcrowded Iraqi-run prisons, police stations and detention camps, many without access to a lawyer, conditions that facilitate torture. In May, former detainees who had been held at a facility in Baghdad’s predominantly Shi’a neighbourhood of al-Kadhimiya told a UN official that they had been subjected to “routine beatings, suspension by limbs for long periods, electric shock treatment to sensitive parts of the body, threats of ill-treatment of close relatives”. As in previous years, the government announced investigations into specific allegations of abuses by Iraqi security forces, but failed to make public the outcome, adding to concerns that impunity was widespread.

On 4 March British and Iraqi troops found some 30 prisoners, including some who reportedly showed signs of having been tortured, when they stormed the headquarters of a government intelligence agency in Basra.

In October, the Prisoners’ Association for Justice, an Iraqi human rights NGO, said it had interviewed five children aged between 13 and 17 who had been tortured by Iraqi security forces who suspected them of assisting insurgents and militia."

Document(s): Open document

11.03.2008 - Source: US Department of State

Reports of torture; no indication of disciplinary action taken against security forces accused of torture ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2007") [ID 23629]

"Numerous and serious reports of torture, abuses, and killings were leveled at MOI's regional intelligence office in Basrah and the Khadimiyah National Police detention facility in Baghdad. Former detainees in both facilities reported that they suffered severe beatings, electric shocks, sexual assault, suspension by the limbs for long periods, threats of ill-treatment of relatives, and, in some cases, gunshot wounds. Reports of abuse at the point of arrest, particularly by MOI's National Police forces and MOD's battalion-level forces, continued to be common. Accusations included extreme beatings, sexual assault, and threats of death. During 2006 there were also similar accusations against MOI and MOD facilities, particularly against the Fifth Division, Second Brigade's detention facility in Baqubah.

There was little indication that disciplinary action was taken against security forces accused of human rights abuses; sectarian politics between the Badr Organization and the JAM appeared to play a strong role in MOI disciplinary actions, as well as in general MOI internal actions.

On March 4, joint British and Iraqi Special Forces raided the MOI National Iraqi Intelligence Agency headquarters building in the southern city of Basrah and arrested an alleged death squad leader. The special forces found 30 detainees with signs of torture. According to press reports, the prime minister's office stressed the need to punish the special forces that carried out the raid. There were no known disciplinary actions against those involved in the alleged torture."

Document(s): Open document

11.03.2008 - Source: US Department of State

Torture and abuse by Sunni insurgents in village of Karmah ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2007") [ID 23630]

"In March a facility was discovered in the village of Karmah west of Baghdad that was used by Sunni insurgents for serious abuses and summary executions. On June 28, police found 20 beheaded men, all with their hands and legs bound, dumped on the banks of the Tigris in the town of Salman Pak, just south of Baghdad. On May 6, a so-called torture chamber and a massive amount of artillery shells were discovered in pursuit of a suspected terrorist in a building in Baghdad's Sadr City. On May 23, similar rooms operated by Sunnis against Sunnis were discovered in Anbar Province holding 17 persons in two hideouts, including a 13-year-old boy who was shocked with electrical current and beaten. The freed individuals stated that one or two others had died in torture sessions."

Document(s): Open document

06.2007 - Source: Freedom House

Mistreatment of detainees and torture by security forces ("Freedom in the World 2007") [ID 20740]

"The constitution prohibits all forms of torture and inhumane treatment, and affords any victims the right to compensation. But neither coalition forces nor the Iraqi authorities have established effective safeguards against the mistreatment of detainees, and allegations of torture by security services were serious and widespread in 2006. [...] Cases of torture have been documented in both official and unofficial detention centers. The interior minister has attempted to stem abuses by police forces and complicity with militias by firing thousands of employees, including an entire brigade, but the problem remains endemic. The frequent employment of martial law in attempts to stem growing insecurity and violence grants sweeping powers of arrest and restricts basic freedoms."

Document(s): Open document

28.12.2006 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Security forces raided the Al-Jamaat police station in Al-Basrah after being told that dozens of detainees were about to be put to death ("Iraq: Torture Allegations Hang Over Government") [ID 18073]

Document(s): Open document

07.12.2006 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

3 Jordanians who were freed from Iraqi jails last November said they were subjected to “indescribable psychological and physical torture” by the US forces during detention ("Prisoners released from Iraqi prisons said to be traumatised") [ID 18074]

Document(s): Open document

10.11.2006 - Source: Amnesty International

Authorities announced investigation after so-called al-Jadiriya case in November 2005, involving detention and torture of suspects under the control of Interior Ministry; findings have still not been disclosed ("One year on, still no justice for torture victims [MDE 14/038/2006]") [ID 19244]

Document(s): Open document

25.01.2005 - Source: Human Rights Watch

Report focused on torture and ill treatment of members of political and armed groups; arbitrary arrests and torture of criminal suspects and torture of children held in adult facilities ("The New Iraq? Torture and ill-treatment of detainees in Iraqi custody") [#28477],  [ID 10423]

Document(s): Open document

10.12.2004 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Reports of prisoners and civilian abuse in Iraq ("original document") [ID 10424]

"New evidence, including eyewitness accounts, has surfaced this week about prisoner and civilian abuse in Iraq. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) posted government documents on its website (http://www.aclu.org) on 7 December that show a special operations task force in Iraq sought to silence Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) personnel that witnessed abuse during interrogations. The documents were obtained through a lawsuit filed under the Freedom of Information Act. A federal court ordered the Defense Department and other agencies to release the documents in compliance with a year-old request filed by the ACLU and other organizations, the ACLU said in a press release.

The documents show that interrogators in Baghdad continued to abuse detainees long after the incidents at Abu Ghurayb Prison became known. The reports of prisoner abuse first broke publicly when U.S. CBS television broadcast photographs taken by U.S. soldiers while they were committing the abuses (see "RFE/RL Iraq Report," 7 May 2004). It was later revealed that the U.S. military had been investigating allegations of prisoner abuse at the Abu Ghurayb Prison west of Baghdad since fall 2003, newyorker.com reported on 30 April. The first of two military investigations into the allegations was completed in November, while the second, a classified report obtained by the website and written by U.S. Major General Antonio Taguba, was completed in February. Taguba reported that between October and December there were numerous instances of "sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses" at the prison, which he characterized as a systematic and illegal abuse of detainees, the website reported.

A third report, written by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was given to Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) officials in Baghdad in February. National security adviser Condoleezza Rice told U.S. Congressman Ike Skelton, ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, in a 20 May letter posted on the ACLU website that her staff learned of the ICRC report in mid-February. Pentagon officials at the time told her staff that they were generally aware of the allegations and were investigating them, Rice said in the letter. The National Security Council obtained a copy of the ICRC report in early March. The State Department said in a letter to Skelton dated 1 June and posted on the ACLU website that the department received the ICRC report on 5 March, and Secretary of State Colin Powell received an internal memorandum on the report on 11 March.

The ACLU website has also posted an FBI e-mail (sender and recipient names redacted) that discusses the role of Major General Geoffrey Miller, who was transferred from Guantanamo Bay to Baghdad in January to replace dismissed Brigadier General Janet Karpinski as head of the Iraqi prison system. The sender refers to remarks made by Karpinski to the media about Miller's intention to "gitmoize" Abu Ghurayb Prison. "I am not sure what this means. However, if this refers to intell[igence] gathering as I suspect, it suggests he has continued to support interrogation strategies we not only advised against, but questioned in terms of effectiveness," the sender writes. He adds that he was surprised to read an article quoting Miller as saying he believed in the rapport-building approach during interrogations. "This is not what he was saying at gitmo when I was there." The e-mail, the ACLU argues, shows the rift between the FBI and Defense Department over the use of certain interrogation techniques on detainees.

Miller said on 4 May that physical contact, hooding, stress positioning, and questioning naked detainees are not authorized U.S. interrogation techniques in Iraq, the CPA noted in a press release on its website (http://www.cpa-iraq.org). Miller added that civilian contractors acting as interrogators would be held to the same standards as the military (see "RFE/RL Iraq Report," 7 May 2004).

Just one week later, DIA personnel witnessed the physical abuse of detainees by a clandestine military task force identified as Task Force 6-26. In a 10 June memorandum posted on the ACLU website, a DIA civilian intelligence officer with 14 years' service with the Defense Department reported witnessing two counts of violations of the Geneva Conventions as they pertain to detainee abuse and one count of violations of the conventions as they pertain to the illegal detainment of noncombatants. The officer said that on or around 11 May, he witnessed four or five "non-interrogator personnel" from the task force disrupt an interrogation being carried out by a U.S. Army officer. It is unclear whether the task-force personnel were military or civilian. The men entered the room "and began slapping the detainee while he was attempting to respond to the questioning. After approximately 15 minutes, a senior NCO [noncommissioned officer] going by the call sign 'XO3' entered the room and asked most of the personnel to leave, to include all of the interrogators. I am not aware of what specifically occurred during my absence," he wrote.

The same NCO ignored the DIA officer's recommendation that the wife of a wanted insurgent not be detained during a raid on a family member's home. Task-force personnel had recommended before the raid that should the husband not be located, she be taken as leverage to obtain the suspect's surrender. "I determined that the wife could provide no actionable intelligence leading to the arrest of her husband. Despite my protest, the team leader [XO3] detained her anyway." The 28-year-old woman had three young children at home, one still nursing. She was held for two days and then released.

Another memorandum posted on the ACLU website, written by DIA Director L. E. Jacoby to Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Steven Cambone, describes more alleged abuse by the Task Force 6-26 personnel. Two DIA Directorate for Human Intelligence (DIA/DH) interrogators/debriefers working with the task force reported on 24 June that they observed prisoners arriving at the temporary detention facility in Baghdad "with burn marks on their backs. Some have bruises, and some have complained of kidney pain." One of the DIA/DH personnel witnessed task-force officers punch a prisoner in the face "to the point the individual needed medical attention." The task force did not record the incident, Jacoby writes. "One DIA/DH interrogator/debriefer took pictures of the injuries and showed them to his task force supervisor, who immediately confiscated them," he added, indicating a cover-up may have taken place.

Jacoby notes that Task Force 6-26 personnel have confiscated vehicle keys from DIA/DH interrogators/debriefers, threatened them, instructed them not to leave the compound without permission, ordered them not to speak with anyone in the United States, and told them that their e-mails were being screened. A "New York Times" report on 8 December cited one Pentagon official as saying that when Jacoby's letter reached Cambone, the issue was immediately raised with Cambone's senior staff and officers at the military's Special Operations Command. An investigation is reportedly under way.

Meanwhile, a former U.S. Marine staff sergeant told a Toronto court on 7 December that his unit killed at least 30 unarmed civilians in Iraq during the war in 2003 and that Marines regularly shot and killed wounded Iraqis, washingtonpost.com reported on 8 December. The Marine, Jimmy J. Massey, was testifying on behalf of U.S. Army deserter Jeremy Hinzman, who is seeking asylum in Canada rather than serve in Iraq. Massey said that he and his men shot and killed four Iraqis at a demonstration and killed a man whose hands were raised in surrender, as well as women and children at roadblocks between April and May 2003, the website reported. He said that he had complained to his superiors about the "killing of innocent civilians" but said nothing was done. A Marine Corps spokesman said the charges were investigated and not proved.

In Berlin, a U.S. Army tank company commander stood trial on 7 December on charges alleging he killed a critically wounded Iraqi who worked for Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, AP reported. Captain Rogelio Maynulet is charged with assault with intent to commit murder and dereliction of duty. Witnesses testified at Maynulet's Article 32 hearing -- the equivalent of a grand jury investigation -- that the driver had been shot by U.S. soldiers near Kufa on 21 May. Maynulet later approached the man and shot him, telling a fellow officer that he did so out of compassion for the injured man.

An 8 December report by human rights group Amnesty International (http://www.amnesty.org) entitled "Lives Blown Apart: Crimes Against Women in Times of Conflict," discusses allegations that women in Iraq have been "subjected to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment." It refers to the Taguba report, which documents an incident of a male guard having sex with a female detainee. Some former female detainees told Amnesty International they were threatened with rape, beatings, humiliating treatment, and long periods of solitary confinement. The report also contends that women, children, and the elderly bear the brunt of modern warfare techniques, estimating that some 90,000 unexploded munitions may now be on Iraqi soil. It also documents the effects of the 1988 chemical attack on Halabjah by the Hussein regime, noting that a 2004 study suggested increased infertility rates in the area; babies born with disabilities; and various cancers among women and children who were present during the attacks."

Document(s): original document

17.11.2004 - Source: BBC News

Army officer charged with the killing of an injured Iraqi in Baghdad in August; 2 soldiers were already charged with murder over the same incident ("Iraq murder charge for US soldier") [#27042],  [ID 10425]

Document(s): Open document

16.11.2004 - Source: BBC News

Fallujah: 10 insurgents killed and 5 injured when US forces stormed the mosque; at least 3 injured insurgents were left in the mosque, one of them later allegedly shot dead by US marine; in separate incident, US marine was killed by explosives planted in the body of a dead insurgent ("US investigates Falluja killing") [#26989],  [ID 10426]

Document(s): Open document

29.10.2004 - Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting

Iraqi intelligence accused of torture ("original document") [ID 10427]

"SCIRI ACCUSES IRAQI INTELLIGENCE OF TORTURE. Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim, the head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), told Al-Jazeera television in a 23 October interview that he was surprised by accusations made by Iraqi intelligence that SCIRI is involved in the assassination of members of the intelligence community. "We know many of them. They are the remnants of the former regime who still employ the same old mentality and thus commit acts in violation of the endorsed State Administration Law," he said. Al-Hakim accused intelligence officers of "conducting raids and arresting, torturing, and imprisoning individuals." "If they maintain such conduct, then we will expose to Iraqis and to the entire world the true nature of the criminal acts being committed by these bodies," he said. SCIRI also posted a statement to its website (http://www.sciri.ws) on 23 October that cited a recent survey by the U.S.-based International Republican Institute (http://www.iri.org) that found that the majority of Iraqis polled would support an Islamic state. "The conflicting paths of these two arguments clearly demonstrate how distant those biased intelligence parties, which are trying to derail democracy in our new Iraq, are from the pulse of the Iraqi street," the statement said. (Kathleen Ridolfo)"

Document(s): original document

20.10.2004 - Source: BBC News

US army reservist pleaded guilty to 5 charges of abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraib jail near Baghdad ("US soldier admits Iraq jail abuse") [#26528],  [ID 10428]

Document(s): Open document

07.05.2004 - Source: Amnesty International

According to Amnesty International, abuses allegedly committed by US agents in the Abu Ghraib facility in Baghdad were war crimes ("Pattern of brutality and cruelty -- war crimes at Abu Ghraib") [#22165],  [ID 10429]

Document(s): Open document

07.05.2004 - Source: Human Rights Watch

Irak: Timeline of Detainee Abuse Allegations and Responses ("original document") [ID 10430]

Timeline from December 2002 to May 2004

"Allegations of torture and mistreatment of detainees by U.S. forces in Iraq do not involve isolated cases, but are part of a broader pattern of what the Army’s own investigation into the matter called “systemic abuse.” Concerns about mistreatment of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan, and in other undisclosed detention facilities set up after September 11, 2001, have been raised many times by the media, human rights organizations, and Congress. This is a partial listing of such reports.

December 25, 2002
The Washington Post reports:
Persons being held in the CIA interrogation center at Bagram air base who refuse to cooperate, “are sometimes kept standing or kneeling for hours in black hoods or spray-painted goggles, according to intelligence specialists familiar with CIA interrogation methods. At times they are held in awkward, painful positions and deprived of sleep with a 24-hour bombardment of lights—subject to what are known as ‘stress and duress’ techniques….”
“ ‘If you don’t violate someone’s human rights some of the time, you probably aren’t doing your job,’ said one official who has supervised the capture and transfer of accused terrorists. ‘I don’t think we want to be promoting a view of zero tolerance on this.’ ”
“According to one official who has been directly involved in rendering captives into foreign hands, the understanding is, ‘We don’t kick the [expletive] out of them. We send them to other countries so they can kick the [expletive] out of them.’”
“Bush administration officials said the CIA, in practice, is using a narrow definition of what counts as ‘knowing’ that a suspect has been tortured. ‘If we’re not there in the room, who is to say?’ said one official conversant with recent reports of renditions.” (The Washington Post, Dec. 25, 2002)

December 27, 2002
Human Rights Watch writes to President Bush about allegations of torture reported in The Washington Post, asking that the allegations be investigated immediately.
January 14, 2003
Executive directors of leading human rights groups write to Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz urging that the administration publicly state that torture in any form or matter will not be tolerated, that the U.S. will not seek intelligence obtained through torture in a third country, to be accompanied by clear guidelines to U.S. forces.
January 31, 2003
Executive directors of human rights groups write to President George Bush demanding “unequivocal statements by [Bush] and [his] Cabinet officers that torture in any form or matter will not be tolerated…[and] that any U.S. official found to have used or condoned torture will be held accountable....These statements need to be accompanied by clear written guidance applicable to everyone engaged in the interrogation and rendition of prisoners,” they conclude.
February 5, 2003
Representatives of major human rights groups meet with DoD General Counsel Haynes to urge the administration to develop clear standards to prevent the mistreatment of detainees.
February 6, 2003
Newsday reports that Vincent Cannistraro, a former intelligence official, told reporters that, “Better intelligence…has come from a senior Al-Qaeda detainee who had been held in the U.S. base at Guantanamo, Cuba, and was ‘rendered to Egypt after refusing to cooperate. ‘They promptly tore his fingernails out and he started to tell things.’ ” (Newsday, February 6, 2003)
March 4, 2003
The New York Times reports, "The United States military has begun a criminal investigation into the death of an Afghan man in American custody in December, a death described as a "homicide" by an American pathologist....Two former prisoners, Abdul Jabar and Hakkim Shah, who recalled seeing Mr. Dilawar at Bagram, said the conditions to which they themselves were subjected at the time included standing naked, hooded and shackled, being kept immobile for long periods and being deprived of sleep for days on end."(The New York Times, March 4, 2003)
The Wall Street Journal reports that an unnamed U.S. law enforcement official said, “because the [Convention Against Torture] has no enforcement mechanism, as a practical matter, ‘you’re only limited by your imagination’ ” A detainee “isn’t going to be near a place where he has Miranda rights or the equivalent of them,” the official said. “God only knows what they’re going to do to him. You go to some other country that’ll let us pistol whip this guy.’ ” (The Wall Street Journal, March 4, 2003)
March 9, 2003
The New York Times reports that “Intelligence officials also acknowledged that some suspects had been turned over to security services in countries known to employ torture. There have been isolated, if persistent, reports of beatings in some American-operated centers,” and that in the case of Omar Al-Faruq’s interrogation, “[t]he Western intelligence official described Mr. Faruq’s interrogation as ‘not quite torture, but about as close as you can get’…over a three-month period, the suspect was fed very little, while being subjected to sleep and light deprivation, prolonged isolation and room temperatures that varied from 100 degrees to 10 degrees.” (The New York Times, March 9, 2003)
June 2, 2003
“Unnamed administration officials have suggested in several press accounts that detainees held by the United States have been subjected to ‘stress and duress’ interrogation techniques, including beating, lengthy sleep, and food deprivation,” Leahy writes to Rice. He asks the administration if such techniques are being employed and urges the administration to issue a clear statement that cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment of detainees will not be tolerated.
June 24, 2003
Executive directors of human rights groups write to Rice asking that human rights monitors have access to prisoners and detention facilities under operation by U.S. forces to verify conditions of detention.
June 25, 2003
Haynes responds to Leahy’s inquiry. “It is the policy of the United States to comply with all its legal obligations in its treatment of detainees,” he writes. Haynes states that it is U.S. policy “to treat all detainees and conduct all interrogations, wherever they may occur” in a manner consistent with U.S. obligations under the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Treatment. He adds that the term “cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment” means any treatment that would be prohibited in the U.S. by the Fifth, Eighth, and/or Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution—a standard that would clearly forbid most of the “stress and duress” techniques reported in the media, as well as degrading treatment later revealed in Iraq. “It would not be appropriate to catalogue the interrogation techniques used by U.S. personnel…thus we cannot comment on specific cases or practices,” Haynes writes.
U.S. Senator Arlen Specter writes to Condoleeza Rice asking for “clarification about numerous stories concerning alleged mistreatment of enemy combatants in U.S. custody ” and to explain how the administration ensures that torture does not occur when it sends detainees to countries that are known to practice torture.
June 26, 2003
In honor of United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, President Bush releases a statement saying that the U.S. is “committed to the world-wide elimination of torture and [is] leading this fight by example.” Bush called on all nations to join the U.S. in “prohibiting, investigating, and prosecuting all acts of torture and in undertaking to prevent cruel and unusual punishment.”
August 28, 2003
The Associated Press reports, “The U.S. military opened a hearing Wednesday into allegations that four U.S. Army reservists abused Iraqi prisoners of war at a camp in [Umm Qasr]...They are alleged to have punched and kicked several Iraqis, breaking one man’s nose, while escorting a busload of prisoners to a POW processing center…The soldiers say they acted in self-defense” (Associated Press, August 28, 2003)
September 9, 2003
Leahy responds to Haynes’ letter of June 26, 2003, urging greater clarity in how the standards he outlined are implemented and communicated to U.S. personnel in the field and asking for assurances that other agencies, including the CIA, respect the same standards as the U.S. military.
October 6, 2003
The Associated Press reports, “The U.S. military has shut down Camp Cropper, an increasingly notorious makeshift prison where hundreds of Iraqi detainees were crowded into tents through Baghdad’s scorching summer.” (Associated Press, October 6, 2003)
October 10, 2003
The New York Times reports that the senior Red Cross official in Washington said it was unacceptable that the 600 detainees should be held indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay without legal safeguards and "its impact on the mental health of the population has become a major problem...In the past 18 months, 21 detainees have made 32 suicide attempts, and many more are being treated for depression." (The New York Times, October 10, 2003)
October 19, 2003
The Associated Press reports, “Eight marine reservists face charges ranging from negligent homicide to making false statements in connection with the mistreatment of prisoners of war in Iraq.” (Associated Press, October 19, 2003)
November 18, 2003
Department of Defense (DoD) Principal Deputy General Counsel Daniel Dell’Orto writes to Senator Patrick Leahy to confirm that earlier DoD statements about the treatment of detainees bind the entire executive branch, but sidesteps specific questions about interrogation guidelines, and adds that articles alleging improper treatment of detainees “often contain allegations that are untrue.”
December 13, 2003
The Washington Post reports, “A battalion commander in Iraq who fired his pistol near the head of an Iraqi detainee after his soldiers had punched the prisoner was fined $5,000 yesterday as part of a nonjudicial disciplinary proceeding that effectively ends his Army career.” (The Washington Post, December 13, 2003)
December 17, 2003
The Associated Press reports, “Marine reservists running a detention facility in Iraq ordered prisoners of war to remain standing for hours until interrogators could question them, according to testimony at a military court hearing…” (Associated Press, December 17, 2003)
January 12, 2004
Human Rights Watch writes to Rumsfeld to express concern about incidents in which U.S. forces stationed in Iraq detained innocent, close relatives of wanted suspects in order to compel the suspects to surrender, which amounts to hostage-taking, classified as a war crime under the Geneva Conventions.
January 6, 2004
The Associated Press reports, “The U.S. Army discharged three reservists and ordered them to forfeit two months’ salary for abusing prisoners at a detention center in Iraq.” (Associated Press, January 6, 2004)
January 13, 2004
The Asian Wall Street Journal reports that a suspect detained by U.S. forces in Iraq claimed that “he was ordered to stand upright until he collapsed after 13 hours,” and that interrogators “burned his arm with a cigarette.” (The Asian Wall Street Journal, January 13, 2004)
January 17, 2004
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that “the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq has ordered a criminal investigation into reports of abuse of prisoners at an unspecified coalition detention center.” (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, January 17, 2004)
January 18, 2004
London’s Sunday Times reports claims by a detainee held by coalition forces in Iraq that during his three months in detention he was, “beaten frequently, given shocks with an electric cattle prod, and had one of his toenails prised off.” (The Sunday Times, January 18, 2004)
February 10, 2004
Human Rights Watch writes to U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld expressing concern about the treatment of detainees in Iraq and urges the administration to publicly clarify the status of the detainees and to make public the numbers of detainees being held.
February 23, 2004
Reuters reports that, “U.S. forces investigation allegations of mistreatment of Iraqi detainees at a prison west of Baghdad have suspended 17 soldiers including a battalion commander and a company commander,” pending the outcome of an investigation into allegations of abuse of detainees. (Reuters, February 23, 2004)
March 8, 2004
Human Rights Watch releases a report revealing how U.S. forces operating in Afghanistan have arbitrarily detained civilians, used excessive force during arrests of non-combatants, and mistreated detainees. Released detainees testified that U.S. forces severely beat them, doused them with cold water and subjected them to freezing temperatures. Many said they were forced to stay awake, or to stand or kneel in painful positions for extended periods of time.
May 1, 2004
The Washington Post reports, “Arab countries reacted with rage and revulsion yesterday after images of U.S. soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners were broadcast around the world. Bush administration and U.S. military officials scrambled to contain the furor and to assuage concerns among allies. The photos showed U.S. troops celebrating as prisoners were sexually humiliated and otherwise abused.” (The Washington Post, May 1, 2004)
May 3, 2004
Human Rights Watch writes to U.S. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice that the ill treatment and torture of prisoners by the U.S. military in Iraq were not limited to isolated incidents, but reflected, in the words of the U.S. army’s own inquiry, “systemic and illegal abuse of detainees.” Human Rights Watch urges immediate action to reverse the harm these actions have caused in U.S. detention centers around the world."

Document(s): original document

30.04.2004 - Source: Amnesty International

Torture or other ill-treatment of prisoners by Coalition Forces frequently reported during the past year ("Torture not isolated -- independent investigations vital") [#21855],  [ID 10431]

Document(s): Open document