CPTnet
November 5, 2003
BAGHDAD: Testimony of an Iraqi man detained and tortured by US Forces

[Note: CPTers Matt Chandler and Allan Slater took the following testimony of
Abd al-Rahman on October 20, 2003. It has been edited for length, which
required cutting descriptions of the prison camps, accounts of torture
through electric shock and accounts of demonstrations that prisoners have
organized against U.S. forces in their camps. People wishing to see the
full 2528-word report may send their request to guest.445947@MennoLink.org.]

I was a low-level employee at the Ministry of Agriculture in Baghdad.
Someone who had a grudge against me told the Coalition Forces that I was a
Ba'ath party militia member. The U.S. raided my family's home at about 2am
on June 14, 2003. I was away at the time. . . The soldiers broke in the
doors, ransacked the house, confiscated some jewelry and 5 million Iraqi
Dinars [$2,500 US], and held my wife and daughter at gunpoint.
. . .
The soldiers returned for a third raid June 18 at about 2am. They came to
the house with a helicopter hovering overhead, three tanks, and six armored
vehicles. They entered the house from all directions, including from above.
. . .
The soldiers searched the whole house--even the toilet--and interrogated my
neighbors. They found nothing in the house and all of my neighbors said I
was innocent. The commanding officer apologized to me . . .but then he said
he didn't have the authority to let me go, so he arrested me.

The soldiers took me to their base in the Al-Shaab district of Baghdad.
They kept me alone in a room with my hands zip tied behind my back for two
days, feeding me only one spoonful of Army rationed food per day and giving
me a total of two glasses of water during that time. During these two days,
some interrogators beat me frequently, shoved me around, stood on my back,
and pried off one of my toenails.
. . .

[At the Baghdad Airport] the guards moved me to a small wooden room outside
with one small hole through which they passed food. It was very hot and
very dirty inside. The guards gave me Army rations with pork in them (which
I could not eat because I am a Muslim), prohibited me from showering,
allowed me to use the toilet only three times a day.

I told them as much as I truly knew: I have only seen Saddam Hussein once in
my life, when I went with my school to a speech he gave in 1980.
...
Eight days later, the US soldiers began interrogating me again, this time
threatening to harm my family if I did not give them information.
. . .

We heard rumors that there was a mass grave of Iraqi and US soldiers
underneath the prison camp. My fellow prisoners and I secretly dug under
our tent for a few feet and found recently deceased corpses.

. . .

[At Bucca prison camp] I became very depressed again. I kept thinking about
one of the US interrogators who told me I would be transferred to Guantanamo
Bay. I attempted suicide by cutting my neck with wire. Maj. Garrity [an
officer at Bucca prison camp] attended to me personally for three days in
the hospital. She listened to my whole story and agreed to contact her
leadership to try to help me.

. . .

I want people in the United States and around the world to know about my
case and the hundreds of others like mine. I want Iraq to be a truly free
and just country.