CPTnet
24 June 2005
IRAQ UPDATE: 14-18 June 2005
Tuesday, 14 June 2005
Anita David and Will Van Wagenen went to a women's human rights
organization to meet a family whose son was detained in March. They had
visited several holding facilities in Baghdad looking for any record of
their son. Each time U.S. or Iraqi officials told them that they had no
record of their son's detention. An acquaintance of the family is an officer
in one of the prisons and has informed that family that the son was there at
one point, but was transferred. The family also heard rumors that many
prisoners at that holding facility were tortured to death. The family
accepted CPT's offer of accompaniment to various Iraqi ministry offices and
information centers.
Later, a man visiting the women's organization told CPT the story of his
brother's death. Iraqi National Guard (ING) and U.S. forces raided the
brother's house at night and shot him in the stomach. The ING took him to a
hospital, and detained his son. Four days later the brother died from his
wound. His death certificate recorded him as a Saudi national. The family
received a letter twenty-three days after the raid, telling them to pick up
the body. The letter claimed he was shot because he resisted arrest.
In the afternoon the team met with a contact from Fallujah regarding how CPT
might work with the people there.
Wednesday, 15 June 2005 David and Rollins traveled to the Ministry of Human
Rights (MHR.) They learned the ministry does not have a permanent director
and is currently headed by the Minister of the Environment. The MHR has
officials working in the three U.S.-run prisons (Abu Ghraib, Bucca and
Baghdad Airport) and is working on placing officials in all the Iraqi
prisons. The MHR now maintains a database of individuals who are considered
"disappeared."
Following their visit to the MHR, David and Rollins went to a nearby General
Information Center (GIC) to look for the son of the family CPT met at the
women's human rights organization. The people at the GIC were not able to
locate him in their database.
Thursday, 16 June 2005
Van Wagenen and Rollins toured various shopping malls and markets that the
U.S. bombed during the 2003 invasion as part of the effort to destroy Iraqi
civilian infrastructure. The bombing was done as part of the "Shock and Awe"
bombing campaign meant to bring Iraqi society to a halt in order to force
the Iraqi government to submit to the will of the U.S.
Five U.S. soldiers conducted a foot patrol and searched an apartment on the
street in the team's neighborhood. Rollins, Fox and David spoke with them
as the passed. One soldier was looking forward to returning to the U.S. in
two weeks to see the birth of his son. The soldier also said the search of
the apartment yielded nothing of interest.
Friday, 17 June 2005
Van Wagenen went to the book market with a friend. No team members had gone
to the market in several months due security issues. He did not see any
other foreigners there.
Saturday, 18 June 2005
While they were at a gym, an Iraqi man approached Van Wagenen and Rollins
and said sternly, "I just have one question: why do you risk it? This is not
a green area; this is a red area. You are not safe here." The man then
walked away. Later, when the CPTers asked the owner of the gym who the man
was, the man approached the CPTers again and apologized for his sternness.
He said they were safe in the gym but outside they were not as safe.
A team interpreter called in the evening and said he had been on his way to
visit the team when a roadside bomb exploded about 200 meters away from his
car. Shrapnel punctured one of his tires. He was okay but a little shaken.
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