CPTnet
2 November, 2005
IRAQ ACTION ALERT: Help Stop State-Sponsored Torture

Civilians in Iraq call on you to help end
state-sponsored torture by
Iraqi security forces.

Background:

CPT Iraq spent nearly two years documenting abuse of Iraqi detainees in
U.S.-run prisons in Iraq. But for the past several months, the team has
received more and more reports of detentions, killings, and torture
perpetrated by the new Iraqi security forces -- forces trained by U.S.
military and now given responsibility for security in their country.
Methods of torture reported by survivors and families include beatings with
cables, electric shock, electric drilling, food and sleep deprivation,
beating of feet, stress positions, and suspension from the ceiling. CPT has
received first-hand testimonies alleging that the Iraqi Army, Iraqi Police
and new commando groups such as the Wolf and Scorpion Brigades have targeted
particular communities, such as Iraqi Sunni neighborhoods as well as
neighborhoods of Palestinians born in Iraq.

Recently, CPTers accompanied a group of nineteen Palestinians who decided to
seek refuge in Syria from the night raids, arrests and torture-induced
confessions their community has suffered. They are still camped at the
Syrian border awaiting entry. Their 1948 status as "guests" in Iraq does not
allow them to migrate to neighboring countries. Members of their community
and others in Iraq still receive regular threats.

CPT acknowledges that every sector of the Iraqi
population is
suffering in these violent times.
Government-sponsored torture is
one specific form of violence that you can directly
challenge with
your voice.

ACTION:

We urgently request that you do one or all of the following:

1. Contact the U.S. Department of State. Point out that if the U.S. came to
Iraq to create a country of "freedom and democracy," then they are failing
utterly because the current Iraqi government's treatment of its own citizens
and of refugee Palestinians resembles more the actions of Saddam Hussein's
government. Point out that the U.S. military trained the new Iraqi security
forces, and therefore shares responsibility for their actions.

US Department of State
Telephone: 202-647-6575
Fax: 202-647-4147
http://contact-us.state.gov/

2. Call, email or fax the Iraqi embassy in your country and voice your
concern about the use of torture in general and the targeting of certain
communities in particular, such as Palestinians living in Iraq.

Embassy of Iraq in Washington, D.C.
Tel: (202) 483-7500
Fax: (202) 462-5066; (202) 462-0564
Email: admin@iraqiembassy.org

Embassy of Iraq in Canada
215 McLeod Street
Ottawa, ON K2P0Z8
Phone: 613-236-9177 (9178)
Fax: 613-567-1101

Iraq Embassy, United Kingdom
169 Knightsbridge
London SW7 1DW
Phone: (020) 7581-2264
Fax: (020) 7589-3356

3. Call, email or fax the United Nations Relief and Works Agency
(UNRWA) offices in Damascus and New York City, and request that:

- The UN do its utmost to ensure that the Palestinian population in Iraq is
protected

- UNRWA needs to continue to provide the refugees stranded at the
Iraqi-Syrian border with shelter and basic needs until their situation is
resolved

UNRWA
Syrian Arab Republic Field Office, Damascus Hala Mukhles Public Information
Officer Tel: (+ 963 11) 613 3035 (ext 258) Fax: (+ 963 11) 613 3047 Email:
sarpio@unrwa.org

UNRWA Liaison Office, New York
Chief, Liaison Office - Maher Nasser
One United Nations Plaza, Room DC1-1265 New York, NY 10017, USA Telephone:
(+ 1 212) 963 2255, (00 1 212) 963 1234 Facsimile: (+ 1 212) 935 7899

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Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) seeks to enlist the
whole church in organized, nonviolent alternatives to
war and places teams of trained, peacemakers in
regions of lethal conflict. Originally a violence-reduction initiative of
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