CPTnet
March 26, 2004

IRAQ: Mohammad Tarik, youth detainee in Al Karkh, released

CPT traveled to Abu Sifa village on Tuesday, March 9, in a continuation of
the Lenten Campaign. Most of the vigils have taken place in the center of
Baghdad, but this was to be the second vigil "on the road." The site of the
vigil was a home that had been destroyed by tank fire more than two weeks
after coalition forces had detained all the men in the family, along with
eighty-three men and boys from the community, in massive house raids. The
host at the site turned out to be 15-year-old Mohammad Tarik, one of the
three boys who were arrested. The vigil that day included a long interview
with Mohammad by CPT.

US soldiers arrested Mohammad on December 16 at 4am. Soldiers hooded and
handcuffed him, laid him on the ground, and dragged him in the mud. Then
they took him and the others to a former grain storage facility, now a U.S.
military base, about fifty miles north of Baghdad. There they were detained
for three days in the open, then three days under shelter. The soldiers
gave each prisoner two meals daily and one bottle of water every three days.
Some were received blankets while others did not.

Mohammad reported that there were ten women and thirty detainees from other
communities also held at the facility. After six days, guards transferred
him and forty others in handcuffs and hoods to Abu Ghraib Prison.

At the prison, a U.S. official with two translators asked what he knew about
weapons (he reported that none were found in the raid) and if he knew any
terrorists. He was interrogated as he sat on the ground, hands cuffed
behind his back and head down as they stood around him. Through a
translator the U.S. soldier told him, "If you lie, we will kill you."
Mohammad told CPT, "I did not feel safe during the questioning."

From Abu Ghraib, officials took Mohammad to Al Karkh Youth Detention Prison.
There he stayed with ten others ranging in age from 12 to 14. He said his
treatment there was good. He had access to food and water, and did not
experience abuse. He was released on February 25, two months and two weeks
after his arrest.