NEW
YORK, January 25 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Iraqis are
still tortured and abused at the hands of the US-picked interim
government, according to a report by Human Rights Watch released
Tuesday, January 25, while a US official warned the Allawi government
was following the path of ousted Saddam Hussein in dealing with its
opponents.
The
94-page report by the New York-based rights organization is entitled: The
New Iraq? Torture and Ill-treatment of Detainees in Iraqi Custody.
It
documents how unlawful arrest, long-term incommunicado detention,
torture and other ill-treatment of detainees (including children) by
Iraqi authorities have become routine and commonplace, according to
HRW Web site.
“Human
Rights Watch conducted interviews in Iraq with 90 detainees, 72 of
whom alleged having been tortured or ill-treated, particularly under
interrogation.”
“The
people of Iraq were promised something better than this after the
government of Saddam Hussein fell,” Sarah Leah Whitson, executive
director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa
Division, said on HRW Web site.
“The
Iraqi Interim Government is not keeping its promises to honor and
respect basic human rights. Sadly, the Iraqi people continue to suffer
from a government that acts with impunity in its treatment of
detainees.”
Routine
Abuse
The
human rights watchdog said methods of torture cited by detainees
include routine beatings to the body using cables, hosepipes and other
implements.
“Detainees
report kicking, slapping and punching; prolonged suspension from the
wrists with the hands tied behind the back; electric shocks to
sensitive parts of the body, including the earlobes and genitals; and
being kept blindfolded and/or handcuffed continuously for several
days. In several cases, the detainees suffered what may be permanent
physical disability,” the HRW Web site said.
“They
poured cold water over me and applied electric shocks to my genitals.
I was also beaten by several people with cables on my arms and
back,” said a 21-year-old man arrested in July 2004 and accused of
links with firebrand Shiite leader Muqtada Al-Sadr's Mahdi Army.
A
similar experience was cited by another detainee arrested in June 2004
on charges of possession of drugs.
“During
the first three days there was continuous torture. I was beaten with
an aluminum rod and with cables. … Then I was told to sign a
statement with my hands tied behind my back, so I didn’t even see
the paper and I don’t know what I signed.”
The
rights group said the interim Iraqi government has failed to
investigate and punish officials responsible for such abuses with
international police advisors even turning a blind eye to the rampant
abuses and human rights violations.
“In
the name of bringing security and stability to Iraq, both Iraqi
officials and their advisers have allowed these abuses to go
unchecked,” Whitson said. “We have not seen the Iraqi police held
accountable for their actions.”
UN
human rights officials have repeatedly raised concerns about detainees
held in the US military base in Guantanamo Bay as well as abuse in the
US-run Abu Ghraib Jail in Baghdad after the occupation of the oil-rich
Arab country.
Bad
Record
 |
|
Iraqi police follow the lead of US forces in abusing detainees. (Reuters)
|
Meanwhile, a senior US official and an
Iraqi judge earlier told Agence France Presse (AFP) that the Iraqi
security apparatus is committing serious detainees abuses and human
rights violations.
“Their
record is not spotless on human rights,” the US official told AFP
Monday on condition of anonymity.
“As
a general rule in the security services, there is a culture that the
ends justify the means.”
The
US official said the human rights violations by the Iraqi security
bodies would be aired in the US State Department's annual human rights
report, to be released next month.
Concerns
about the conduct of the Iraqi security apparatus were first raised in
October when the chief investigative judge on Iraq's central criminal
court, Zuhair Al-Malily, was demoted to a lower court for his
investigation into illegal detentions and torture by Iraqi
authorities.
“Nobody
wants to handle the cases. No one wants to risk losing his
position,” an Iraqi judge told AFP last week on condition of
anonymity, adding that the abuses by the Iraqi interior ministry
carried on, with all voices of dissent chilled since Maliky's
demotion.
The
Iraqi judge said he was aware of six to seven cases in the last three
months where the Iraqi interior ministry has refused court orders to
release detainees.
Unwarranted
arrests have also increased due to the use of the Iraqi national guard
to launch crackdown operations in the war-torn country, he added.
“They
are using the excuse we have an emergency situation and there are
emergency laws. But even any detention under the emergency law should
be brought to court within 24 hours. They are not doing that.”
The
Iraqi interior ministry, for its part, defended its conduct of
detention without warrant.
Major
General Hussein Ali Kamal, who heads the Iraqi police's intelligence
department, justified the practices of arrests without a warrant,
citing deteriorating security conditions in the country.
“Because
we are in an emergency situation, there are some detentions made”
without a warrant at bombing sites, he said.
Click
to read the Human Rights Watch report in full [The
New Iraq? Torture and Ill-treatment of Detainees in Iraqi Custody].
