CPTnet
29 July 2005

IRAQ UPDATE: 15-20 July 2005

Friday, 15 July 2005

After five failed attempts due to poor weather and mechanical problems, Tom
Fox was finally able to travel to Amman, Jordan and on to the U.S.

In the morning, the team attempted to visit the Two Swords monument: two
giant hands coming out of the ground and holding two swords that cross. They
were not able to get closer than a kilometer away before guards from the
Green Zone-- the area in the center of Baghdad that houses the U.S. and
British embassies and Iraqi parliament--told them to turn around. From where
they were, the CPTers could only see the upper thirds of the two swords.

Throughout the day the team heard several explosions followed by gunfire.

Sunday, 17 July 2005

Will Van Wagenen accompanied a friend to the Ibn Al Haytham Eye Hospital
to receive a diagnosis and a recommendation for treatment for an eye injury
sustained six years ago. The friend lost sight in this eye when Army
commanders during Saddam Hussein's regime beat him.

Monday, 18 July 2005

Anita David and Van Wagenen went to the Ministry of Interior (MoI) to
inquire about the number of detainees held in Iraqi prisons and give the
names of Iraqis for whom CPT is looking. They met with three different
officials. One agreed to look for the names of Iraqis CPT was looking for,
but also told the CPTers of atrocities being committed by the Iraqi Police
commando units (Wolf Brigade, Hussein Brigade). He said the commando units
arrest, torture, and kill Iraqis with impunity. They target Sunnis in
particular. He said the brigades receive names of whom to arrest or
assassinate from the various Shiite political parties participating in the
government.

The man said US officials are well aware of these abuses and greed to
provide CPT with more information about other people who have been killed.
The CPTers also met with an officer who admitted that human rights abuses
occur at the hands of the commandos and in MoI prisons, but assured CPT that
the abuses are being investigated and everything is being done to prevent
them. He dodged CPT's attempts to get him to give CPT access to the commando
prisons, and told CPT to enquire with the Minister of Interior himself, who
was in Turkey at the time.

Tuesday, 19 July 2005

In the morning Greg Rollins, Jan Benvie, David and Van
Wagenen, went to the Ministry of Human Rights (MHR). Rollins and Benvie
escorted several Palestinians looking for their detained brothers. Iraqi
security forces arrested the brothers late one night in May and put them on
TV admitting crimes their families say they did not commit.

The family members searched a list of prisoners held by the MoI. They found
Palestinians on the list but not their brothers. They filled out several
forms and gave the MHR pictures to identify their brothers. The MHR said
they would look in the prisons of the MI and Ministry of Justice and then
get back to the Palestinian families.

Wednesday, 20 July 2005

After a week's delay in Amman due to flight
restrictions, Peggy Gish arrived in Baghdad.

David and Van Wagenen accompanied a boy and his father to the Ibn Al Hytham
Eye Hospital. The boy was wounded during a confrontation between the
Multinational Forces and unknown others. He sustained extensive eye trauma
including a detached retina and a cataract. A doctor questioned the boy's
father about the wound and examined the eye. After the examination the
doctor said there was no light perception in the injured eye. All the other
conditions could be corrected but the central nerves of the brain were
damaged and could not be regenerated. There is no possibility of sight. The
doctor suggested that while the boy appeared to be normal, his father should
follow up with a neurosurgeon to test for possible brain damage. The boy's
father later told CPT he was not interested in following up with a
neurosurgeon. CPT asked if he would like to seek compensation from the Iraqi
Assistance Center (IAC) a U.S.-run office that helps Iraqis locate family
members in U.S. prisons as well as offers medical help and compensation for
physical damage, property damaged or property stolen by MNF. He said he
would like to try this and said he would call CPT.

Rollins and Benvie went to the General Information Center (GIC) that helps
Iraqis locate their family members in U.S. run prisons. They went looking
for two detained Iraqis. One person had been missing since April 2003. The
staff at the GIC advised that they had no details of any persons missing
before May 2003. They checked the list on the computer for the other person
but did not find any information. When the CPTers returned to the apartment,
Rollins received an email from the IAC with details of where U.S. forces are
holding the second man.

The team received a telephone call from a friend in Amman who said he had
raised $3,000 U.S. for medical supplies to help treat burn victims from a
suicide bombing at Al Mssayab. He asked if CPT could go to a couple Baghdad
hospitals to enquire about the victims. David and Van Wagenen went to the
Yarmouk hospital and spoke to a doctor about what medicines were needed. The
doctor said the best medicines for the man to send were Antiseptic Betadine
(iodine) and Hibtaine (70% of the money to be spent on the first, 30% on the
latter.)