CPTnet
3 May 2005
IRAQ: Five detainee stories
Although the publicity surrounding the detainee abuse scandal is one year in
the past, the suffering of detainees and their families continues. U.S.
forces are holding close to 11,000 Iraqis in U.S.-run prisons and bases
throughout Iraq. The detainees are held without trial and often without
knowledge of the charges against them. Often their families will not know
where they are for months.
The following are five recent stories of detainees -- two women and three
men. Two are part of CPT Adopt-a Detainee campaign and are in detention
right now. Three have been released and have given their testimonies.
Please go to the website indicated to read the full stories.
Two New Detainee Profiles in Adopt-a-Detainee Campaign
http://www.cpt.org/campaigns/adopt/detainee_profiles/detaineeprofiles
Huda Hafuth Ahmed al Azawi is a 43-year-old businesswoman. She is divorced
and lives with her two daughters, ages 14 and 23. In 2003, an Iraqi
informer accused Huda of financing the resistance, and U.S. and Iraqi forces
detained her for seven months with several of her siblings. One of her
brothers was murdered during this time. Huda was eventually transferred to
Abu Ghraib Prison and released in July 2004. She and her family thought
that their ordeal was over. But at 4:30 a.m. on 17 February 2005, U.S. and
Iraqi forces raided her home again. She remains in detention.
http://www.cpt.org/iraq/detainee_profiles/documents/HudaHafuthAhmedalAzawi.d
oc
Othman Jamil Mahmood Ahmed Al-Meshhadani
At about 4:00 a.m. on 18 October 2003, U.S. soldiers captured Othman from
his home iin the north of the Baghdad Governate called Al-Tarmiya. The
soldiers had come to the orchards near Othman's and Mawlood's houses to
search, and found some weapons in a part of the orchard that didn't belong
to their family. Mawlood is not sure exactly what they found. Othman has
been to more than three detention centers in eighteen months, and is now at
Camp Bucca, near Basra in the south of Iraq.
http://www.cpt.org/iraq/detainee_profiles/documents/OthmanJamilMahmoodAhmedA
l-Meshhadani.doc
Three New Detainee Testimonies
http://cpt.org/iraq/iraqtestimonies.php
Mohammed Kamel Yahya, age 39, filled out a human rights questionnaire that
details his experience in detention. Some of the questions include the
following: Stripped of your clothing (nude)? No Beaten by hand
(punches)? Yes Beaten by stick or rod? Yes Beaten by cables, wires
or belts? No Held at gunpoint? Yes Hooded? Yes Had cold water poured
on you? Yes
http://www.cpt.org/iraq/testimonies/MohamedKamelYahya.htm
The Iraqi Police arrested Thabaat Al-Soudany, a human rights worker and
resident of Baghdad, 12 February 2004 on suspicion of stealing Iraqi
antiquities. They dropped the charges and released him on 11 April 2004.
The Iraqi Police rearrested him on 29 June 2004, and then dropped the
charges again and released him on 25 September 2004. Shortly after his
second release he wrote the following account, originally in Arabic, of his
experiences inside prisons run by the Interim Iraqi Government.
http://www.cpt.org/iraq/testimonies/ThabaatAl Soudany.htm
Um Mohammed* is one of several women detained at Abu Ghraib prison. She
spent more than seven months there, after undergoing torture at the hands of
both Iraqi and U.S. officers at a military base in her neighborhood. Her
full story is at
http://www.cpt.org/iraq/testimonies/AMotherImprisoned.htm
*names, dates, and places changed or omitted to protect the detainee and her
family from retaliation
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