CPTnet
November 27, 2003
IRAQ UPDATE: November 2-18, 2003

[During September and October, CPT Iraq workers collected and followed up on
dozens of human rights testimonies from Iraqi citizens who have been
detained or have had relatives and friends detained by US forces. Much of
the work done during this time will be published over the next several weeks
as part of the Iraq team's new Campaign to ensure Justice for Iraqi
Detainees.]

Sunday, Nov. 2
Two relatives of Iraqis detained by US forces arrived at the apartment for
a meeting, a day later than planned. They explained that U.S. Forces had
completely sealed off Fallujah/Ramadi the day before, preventing travel.

A friend of the team came to visit and reported that her children were
staying home from school because a militant group had distributed flyers
threatening to bomb schools in Baghdad during the first weekend of
Ramadan. She had recently been in a market near an Iraqi police station
during an attempted car bombing of the station. The Iraqi police officers
killed the attackers and defused the bomb. She worried about whether
Kuwaitis were behind the bombing of schools. She thought Kuwaitis might
want revenge against Iraq for the months of school lost during the 1990 91
Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

Monday, Nov. 3
Matt Chandler, Kathie Namphy, and Allan Slater and a translator traveled
to Kerbala (two hours south of Baghdad) to meet with a local human rights
organization. Several local Shia clerics also attended, and the group
made plans to hold a prayer vigil with the upcoming delegation at a mass
grave for those killed during the 1991 popular uprising against Saddam.
The CPTers then met an Iraqi woman whose brother, son, and three Iranian
friends were detained by U.S. forces in August and have not been heard from
since.

A former team translator visited the apartment and left a copy of a
notarized written testimony from a Baghdad family whose daughter U.S. Forces
shot and killed while firing randomly into their neighborhood. The
soldiers came to the home the following day to confirm the death but did
not apologize for the shooting or offer assistance to the family.

Tuesday, Nov. 4
David Milne and Anne Montgomery went to Ba'quba [an hour north of Baghdad]
to accompany a farmer and his employees who were trying to retrieve money
and other property which US soldiers confiscated in a raid on their home.
Soldiers detained and released the farmer and his employees without charges,
but never returned the property.

 The group traveled from the
detention center to the Civil Military Operations Center (CMOC) to an
Iraqi police station, back to the CMOC and then back to the detention
center, but no official was willing to assist them in regarding the
property.

Le Anne Clausen, Namphy and Slater recorded the testimony of a man whose
son was a government office worker and disappeared in April during the
war. Later, he saw a TV news clip showing U.S. Forces capturing his son and
several colleagues from their office. Soldiers led them away with sacks
over their heads. The father has not been able to get any information about
his son's whereabouts since.

They also recorded the testimony of a woman whose husband U.S. Forces
detained four months earlier. When the soldiers took him, they said he was
only needed as a witness to a house raid and would return soon. The woman
only learned of her husband being in Abu Ghraib prison camp in August, and
was unable to get a visit with him until Nov.
3rd. She will have to wait another two months before she can visit or
communicate with him again, due to the policies of US officials at the
prison.

She also reported abusive treatment experienced by several families trying
to visit relatives at the prison camp by a Syrian-American guard stationed
there.

In the evening, the team heard several explosions in the center of Baghdad.

Wednesday, Nov. 5
The team welcomed two visitors from Michigan Peace Team (MPT) who were
researching the possibilities for placing an accompaniment team in Iraq
next spring.

Thursday, Nov. 6
Chandler, Milne, and Namphy met with Maj. Smith to press for Iraqi human
rights organizations' access to lists of Iraqi detainees. The CPTers
expressed their concern that the Coalition
Provisional Authority (CPA) is refusing to cooperate with Iraqi
organizations in helping families find their missing relatives. The major
and some of his staffers then expressed their own frustrations with the
system because of its lack of helpfulness to Iraqi families, but said they
were unable to help Iraqi organizations get the lists.

Monday, Nov. 10
Milne and two visitors from MPT recorded additional testimony from a
family whom Milne and Clausen visited previously in their home in Fallujah
governate. US forces raided their home during the summer, killing the
mother, wounding two daughters, and wounding and detaining the father and
older brother. The relatives found out their relatives are being held
secretly at Abu Ghraib prison camp. Milne agreed
to accompany the relatives to Abu Ghraib to try arranging a visit.

Later, Milne met an Iraqi man who works as a translator in the Coalition
Provisional Authority (CPA.) The man said he was unhappy with his job and
the US occupation in general because so many promises have been broken,
the security is bad, and the economy is bad. He said the CPA compound
gets mortar attacks 2-3 times per day.

Thursday, Nov. 13
Clausen, Milne, their translator, and a US journalist accompanied two
relatives of the father and son who are being held at Abu Ghraib prison
camp. The CPTers were swarmed by frustrated and desperate relatives of
Iraqis being held in the camp. Most of the families reported that US
officials permitted them to visit their detained relatives only once every
two to four months. One man said, "Even under Saddam, we were allowed
weekly visitation at Abu Ghraib." Another woman expressed concern that the
families were not allowed to bring clothing suitable for the colder weather
to their relatives in prison. "Winter is coming. They are still in the
same clothes they were detained in this summer," she said.

On their way out of the camp, the CPTers witnessed US soldiers threatening
to shoot a car which failed to slow down at a makeshift checkpoint on the
highway [See November 15 release: "CPTers intervene in U.S. checkpoint
confrontation."]

Friday