CPTnet
May 12, 2004
IRAQ: CPT takes testimony from photographed detainee describing torture at
Abu Ghaib
May 11, 2004
[Note: The following testimony has been edited for length. Those wishing to
see the full testimony may send their request to guest.445947@MennoLink.org.
Do not hit
"reply" to this posting.]
CPT workers Le Anne Clausen and Stewart Vriesinga recorded the
following testimony of a man who identified himself in one of the
photographs of naked, hooded prisoners. They recorded the testimony
on May 9th, 2004 at the office of an Iraqi human rights organization
in Baghdad. The testimony was simultaneously recorded in Arabic.
"Before I was tortured, I was a physical laborer. I could carry over
100lbs. Now my back is ruined, I can't lift anything. I can't travel far
because I cannot control my bladder . . .
"I was held for four months and six days. I spent eighteen days naked. For
eighteen days I was talking without control. I answered "yes" to all their
questions. They asked me if I was part of Ansar Islam (a Kurdish militia.)
I said yes. They asked me if I was in Mohammed's Army (another militia.) I
said yes. Al Qaeda, and so forth. I admitted to every charge. I said,
"I know al Qaeda. Just kill me and get it over with."
. . .
"When they forced us to make the human pyramids, they put bags on our
heads. We were naked. They pushed us in the back until we lined up, then
they pushed us, we would trip on things on the floor. Then they instructed
us to climb on to one another into the pyramid.
"They would also [when the prisoners were hooded and naked] push us from
behind until we walked into the back of another prisoner. Then they would
order us to have anal sex with that person.
"This is the time that they would also put a rope around us, either by the
neck or under our arms, and drag us across the floor.
. . .
"Later I was sent to Camp 42, a smaller camp. There was no questioning
about possible charges against me here. I became nervous and said, "Look,
I'm Osama bin Laden. Just kill me now."
"There were rules: for three months, there was no talking, no praying, and
no reading Qu'ran. The only things allowed were breathing, eating, using
the toilet. You could pray and recite Qu'ran in your heart, but not out
loud. You could sleep for one hour.
. . .
"I never knew the charges against me during this time until three days
before my release. Then they said they thought I may have been in the
former military.
. . .
"The International Committee of the Red Cross came different times, a woman
named Eva. During the visit, they would take a group of us who had been
tortured, six or seven of us, out of the visiting room and replace us with
other prisoners who hadn't been with us.
Afterwards, they would punish all the prisoners if anyone spoke to the ICRC.
They hung us by our wrists from the ceiling.
"We were fed pork for two days, then for a while we were given only one
item out of an Army meal once per day.
. . .
"We heard from the other prisoners about the demonstration they
organized on the first day of Eid after Ramadan. The U.S. guards
shot and killed four prisoners. The prisoners who were there told
us that afterwards, a black U.S. soldier apologized for the killings and
played a recording of Qu'ranic verses on the loudspeaker system for all of
us.
"Sergeant Joyner, Sgt. Bair, and Knockley, who has two "bars"--he is
the level below sergeant--were some of the soldiers who abused me. I
witnessed Knockley rape a woman in front of her father and brother.
I know [Brigadier General Janis] Karpinski saw what was happening to us.
"Among my interrogators there were Staff Sgt. Kris, a woman; Mr. Carlos, and
Ms. Liz. When Ms. Liz left, she was replaced by Ms. Sarah. Mr. Carlos
hated me, he was very bad. Kris was better than him, when Mr. Carlos left
me she would come and wash the blood off
my face and give me cigarettes afterwards . . .
"I was a political prisoner under the old regime, and I was a political
prisoner now. I was taken in 1999 and held at the Olympic stadium complex
where Uday [Hussein] was. There was also
much mistreatment there but nothing like this. There, they tried to kill
me, but they didn't try to humiliate me like this. I, and every Iraqi now,
equate the two regimes, old and new.
. . .
Salaam,* who asked not to speak to reporters, was detained from
November 29th 2003 to March 28th of this year in various detention centers,
including two months in Camp 7 of the Abu Ghraib prison camp. He also
spent one month and ten days in a military hospital for treatment of
injuries he sustained under torture.
* Not his real name
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