MHRI – 2005 Baghdad:
First Periodical Report of Monitoring Net of Human Rights in Iraq
The Monitoring Network for Human Rights (MHRI), which consists of more than 20 Iraqi organizations for Human Rights,
made this report about the crimes and continuous violations of human rights in Iraq.
(Spanish version)
To His Excellency Kofi Annan Secretary General of United Nations New York 23 August 2005
Excellency,
Our Monitoring Network for Human Rights (MHRI), which consists of more than 20 Iraqi organizations for Human Rights, has
the honor to submit with this letter its report on the crimes and continues violations of human rights in Iraq. The preparing
of this report was not an easy task.
Both security and political reasons played significant role in making this task almost impossible. Nevertheless, the report
is in your hand now with vast evidence and documentations on the crimes and continuous violations of human rights in Iraq.
Therefore, we are kindly asking the High Commissioner for Human Rights to look at the content of the report in accordance
with the General Assembly's resolution 48/ 141 (paragraph 4) of 20 December 1993, to investigate the serious violations of
human rights in Iraq, and to relay the results of this investigation to the Commission on Human Rights to take the suitable
decisions.
Excellency, we believe that the situation of human rights in Iraq, since the last report (E/CN.4/2005/4) prepared by the
High Commissioner in June 2004, has severely deteriorated and has reached a point where the Commissioner on Human Rights should
give serious consideration to the re-appointment of a Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iraq in order
to study and monitor all the violations and to encourage the establishing of the rule of Law in Iraq. Our people are looking
forward to your help to ensure the protection of the human rights of all Iraqi and to put an end to the continues violation.
Sincerely,
Muhamad Al-Darraji
SYNOPSIS
Letter to Kofi Annan (23 Aug 2005)
Full Report (PDF)
Survey of Violations: 1. Crimes of War and Crimes Against Humanity 2. Assassinations 3. Violation of Children's Rights 4. The Health Situation 5. Collective Punishment 6. Women's Rights 7. Prisoners of War and Prisoners 8. Torture and Violations of Human Rights in Detention Camps and in Prisons 9. Minorities 10. Refugees 11. Racism 12. Religious and Civil Freedoms 13. The Situation of the Defenders of Human Rights 14. Sovereignty of Law 15. Sovereignty violations Recommendations
Survey of Violations:
1. Crimes of War and Crimes Against
Humanity
- First Crime:
Some of the ugliest crimes committed by the occupation
forces and by Iraqi military units are the ones committed in the city of Fallujah in the battles of November 2004, and which
we summarize in the following:
- The plundering of health care centers and their destruction by bombing as has taken place in the "Taleb Al-Janabi" hospital
and in the Central Clinic. Further the Central Hospital was occupied; the staff and everyone in the hospital at that time
were arrested. Ambulances in the city have been bombed and the rescue teams were hindered from entering the city, among them
the convoy of the Ministry of Health, despite of the fact that more than 50,000 civilians still remained in the city.
- Internationally prohibited weapons were used in the bombing of the city, such as phosphoric weapons, Napalm, bombs containing
unknown gases, causing the blood to explode out of bodies. 24 carbonized bodies have been found in the area of the military
neighbourhood. Surviving civilian eyewitnesses stated that the soldiers of the occupation forces entered the area wearing
gas masks. Furthermore, cases of deformed newly born increased as a consequence of the use of such weapons. In a press conference,
which took place during the battle, Mr. Khaled Al-Sheikhali, official of the Ministry of Health, confirmed the use of such
weapons.
- More than 280 missing persons are reported from among the inhabitants of the city of Fallujah. Their fate is still unknown.
These persons are officially registered by names and by photo at the local authorities in the city. It is further estimated
that the total number of missing persons exceeds 500.
- Rescue teams, who were allowed to free the city from corpses, to prevent diseases to spread among the soldiers, affirmed
that there was a great number of civilian corpses lying in areas, indicating that they were neither armed nor resisting when
they were attacked. Bodies were found in beds, kitchens or on chairs, bodies of children near those of their fathers. Further
they found bodies of women, their dresses torn, their features disfigured. Many of the dead showed head wounds, which indicate
that they were murdered from short distance and in the manner of executions.
- The existence of a mass grave with approximately 400 bodies in the "Sajar" area, an area protected by the US Forces, shooting
anyone approaching it. The US Officials responsible for burying the dead in the city, admitted to one rescue team, that they
had buried 380 bodies in this area after the end of the battle, and that these bodies had previously been stored in a refrigerator
originally used for the storage of potatoes.
- The dogs in Fallujah are infected with different diseases as a result of their eating corpses, and are now endangering
the health of the citizens.
- Arrested civilians were forced to participate in cleaning the city from the remains of the battle and what has been used
in it. In one of the disposal sites of these remains, bodies of fighters and civilians, among them women and children were
found. The entrance to these areas is prohibited.
- Information on the whereabouts of some of prisoners, who were transferred to the "Buka" prison in Basra, is lost although
they had been seen by other prisoners who were released later. One case is that of Sheikh Shaker Hamdan Abdullah Fayyad Al-Kabeesi,
who was arrested on the 11th October 2004 in Fallujah, carrying "Buka" prisoner's number 165251, and who was supposed to be
released on the 22nd of December 2004 but still remains missing.
- Many civilians trying to escape the hell of shell firing were victims of snipers, who were following US orders to shoot
at anyone who moves, even at children. Many civilian eyewitnesses affirmed that the streets of their neighborhoods were full
of dead civilians, killed on their way to take refuge in the nearest mosques, following US appeals to do so. M.A. states that
his father was wounded by a bullet that penetrated his nick and his mother was killed by snipers as they were on their way
to the mosque. He states that he dragged his wounded father to the "Al-Hadra Al- Mohammadiya" mosque, were they were arrested
but released a few days later. He does not know what has become of his mother's body.
- Survivors of the battle assure that US Forces killed the wounded resistance fighters in the sport field of "Sumud" Club.
This explains the refusal of the US Forces to see or transport the bodies of the mass graves in "Sajar" and those bodies left
in the heaps of rubble.
- Eyewitnesses confirm that 4 persons of the civilians seeking refuge at the "Al-Hadra Al-Mohammadiya" mosque, were led
to a near wall, with their hands tied and their eyes covered, and were then executed there by US and Iraqi Forces, on the
grounds of suspecting them to be fighters.
- Despite the fact that more than 30,000 houses and buildings were destroyed in the battle, the US Forces continued to destroy
empty houses before their inhabitants could return. US Forces destroyed in one day 20 houses in the "Shurta" neighborhood.
These houses connected 2 schools, which were taken as military bases. The inhabitants of these houses confirm that they had
seen their houses in good conditions only a few days before. The reason for the demolition was to secure clear vision on the
surrounding areas.
- The crimes committed against humanity in the city of Fallujah are still ongoing. The city has been turned into a big prison;
its 350,000 citizens are not allowed to neither leave nor enter without undergoing abusive and despotic procedures, standing
in contrast to the basic rules of Human Rights. Living conditions are extremely hard in many aspects of public life, in addition
to transgressions by US soldiers, thereby increasing the suffering of the citizens of Fallujah.
- The brutality of the crimes is most obvious in the case of the killing of injured and unarmed civilians in a mosque on
the hands of a US soldier. Although there were many witnesses to this incident, the military court in which this case was
later handled declared that the accused did not violate the security procedures, and was therefore found not guilty of any
charge.
- Second Crime:
On the night from the 4th to the 5th of March 2005, when a group of farmers came
to sell their goods in the area of "Oulwa Jameela", a police car and a civilian car (Opel) stopped and arrested these farmers,
as eyewitnesses from "Oulwa" affirm. These farmers were:
1) Nayef Majoul Saleh 2) Taha Abbas Salman 3) Lu'ay Mahmoud Majoul 4) Abdallah
Manhmoud Saleh 5) Jabbar Matlek Saleh 6) Saleh Mohammad Saleh 7) Sabah Kareem Sa'eed 8) Qasem Mohammad
Sa'eed 9) Ziyad Majoul Sa'eed 10) Qasem Ne'mah Saleh 11) Mohammad Saleem Jameel 12) Wahhab Mahmoud Salman
13) Mohammad Wahhab Mahmoud 14) Ammar Kareem Najem
After 2 days of this incident, the above mentioned were found dead, their bodies disfigured,
full of bullets, their skulls smashed. They were found in a garbage dump in the areas of "Kisra" and "Atash", in the outskirts
of Baghdad. Their relatives state, that 2 of the above mentioned survived and were brought to a hospital, where their pursuers
executed them at the hospital's entrance.
- Third Crime:
On the 14th of May 2005, a police
force burst into houses of the "Iskan" area in Baghdad and arrested the following citizens:
1) Salah Hassan Moussa 2) Yahya Hassan Moussa 3) Khaled Al-Azzawi 4) Salah
Ibrahim Nuriman Mahmoud 5) Khudeir Khamees (son of the neighborhood's mosque muezzin) 6) Nusseir Sameer 7) Leith
Al-Azzawi 8) Ali Hussein 9) Mohammad Hameed Rasheed
This police force took possession of all the families' belongings, money, jewelry, and
personal weapons. Afterwards, the arrested were tortured, killed and their bodies were left, covered with stones and sand,
in a deserted area outside Baghdad ("Al-Kayyara.").
- Fourth Crime:
At the beginning of July 2005, the US forces
arrested 5 persons in the "Al-Zeidan" area in the outskirts of West Baghdad, accusing them of terrorism. The accused were:
1) Yaseen Mar'eed Hamad Al-Zawba'i 2) Khaled Mar'eed Hamad Al-Zawba'i 3) Hameed
Salem Ahmad Muhawesh Al-Zawba'i 4) Ahmad Salam Masfouf Al-Zawba'i 5) Munther Ata'alla Alali Al-Zawba'i
Two days after their detention, they were tied to explosives, and their bodies were torn
into pieces, making their remains unrecognizable. The victims' relatives and the Department of Culture and Information of
the
Committee of Moslem Scientists stated on the 5th of July 2005, that the identification of the bodies could only
be done based on the remains of their clothing and by distinguishable personal body marks.
- Fifth Crime:
In the afternoon of the 10th of July 2005, US military forces fired randomly at a civilian car in the "Alamiriya"
area of Baghdad killing a citizen (Abbas Salem Abbas Al-Zawba'i) and injuring two other persons who were with him in the car.
The injured were taken to "Al-Nour" Hospital in "Shu'la" City in Baghdad. When their relatives arrived to see after them,
they were surprised that everyone asking about them was being arrested by members of a militant force pertaining to the Ministry
of Interior called "Al-Saqer" (hawk). 12 Persons of the same family were arrested, beaten, and tortured with electro-shocks
and acids, as the marks on their bodies show. At last, they were kept in a closed container for 14 hours, with temperatures
reaching 50 degrees Celsius. 11 Persons died as a consequence of the torture, 1 person survived to be the witness of this
crime. The names of the victims are as follows:
1) Taha Hussein Madloul Al-Zawba'i 2) Sabah Zaki Ali Al-Zawba'i 3) Hussein Ali
Talab Al-Zawba'i 4) Riyad Mohammad Ahamd Al-Zawba'i 5) Dia' Mohammad Ahmad Al-Zawba'i 6) Mushtaq Turki Saleh Al-Zawba'i
7) Jalal Ahmad Ali Al-Zawba'i 8) Abbas Salem Abbas Al-Zawba'i 9) Nafe' Salem Abbas Al-Zawba'i 10) Aziz
Ali Morouj Al-Zawba'i 11) Shiya' Isma'eel Muhanna Al-Zawba'i 12) Omar Aneed Khudeir Al-Zawba'i 13) Wa'el Abbas
Salem Al-Zawba'i
2. Assassinations
The assassinations of Iraqi scientists are
probably the most distinctive of all assassinations, with clear evidence at hand. The president of the Department for Research
and Development at the Iraqi Ministry for Higher Education, Mr. Osama Abed Al-Majeed, accused Mossad to stand behind the ongoing
campaign targeting Iraqi scientists. He stated that most of the 15500 Iraqi researchers, scientists, teachers and professors
were dismissed from their offices based on a Law aiming at out rooting Baathists, thereby forcing them to emigrate.
Iraqi
police sources revealed that till the end of March 2004 more than 1000 Iraqi scientists were shot. A report, which was previously
published by the U.S. State Department, confirmed the killing of 350 scientists specialized in nuclear sciences, and 200 professors.
The Network for Human Rights and Democracy in Iraq, had previously accused the Israeli Secret Services of the assassination
of tens of Iraqi Scientists.
Appendix 1 contains a list of the names of some of the assassinated university professors.
Further, a series of assassinations is targeting high ranking officers and military physicians of the former Iraqi
Army because of their participation in the Iraqi-Iranian war. This indicates the involvement of the Iranian Secret Services
in assassinations carried out by some militias pertaining to political parties in Iran. The retired Rear Admiral, Isma'eel
Sa'eed, was assassinated and with him his friend and neighbour, the lawyer Mohammad Ali Ashour, who was standing next to him
at the time of the assassination.
Another example is the assassination of the former military officer Haider Kathem
Al-Mohammadawi in his house in the "Seidiyeh" neighbourhood in Baghdad. A group of men, wearing police uniforms, surrounded
the area with their cars and asked permission to go up on the roof of the victim's house, with the false pretence to survey
a group of armed men in the neighbourhood. The victim accompanied them and was shot on the roof; his wife hearing the gun
fire, hurried up to the roof where she found her dead husband.
The retired Brigadier General, Munther Al-Bayyati,
who worked as a physician in the Al-Rasheed Military Hospital was assassinated by gun fire, released from 2 approaching white
cars. Where as the Brigadier General, Ibrahim Al-Sayel, was kidnapped by an official security unit, with the charge of having
participated in the Iraqi-Iranian war, as his family members confirm.
On the 29th of June 2005, the former Major General
(former leader of group 34) of the Iraqi Army, Abdel-Kareem Jasem Al-Aqabi, was arrested by persons, who had arrived in 3
police cars, wearing police uniforms. Two days after this incident his family received a phone call and a ransom of 25,000
US$ was demanded. Although the ransom was paid, the body of the kidnapped former Major General was found by the police 10
days later in the streets of Baghdad.
The great number of detentions, kidnappings and murdering, which are the consequence
of the political conflicts and disputes, must be condemned and convicted, and independent investigations must be conducted
so as to identify the responsible parties. Otherwise, these criminal acts will threaten the political process and peace in
Iraq and will lead to the creation of gangs and of dictatorial systems, deploying armed militias to solve their disputes.
- Two members of the Drafting Committee for the Constitution (Dr. Mujbil Al-Sheikh Issa and Dr. Damen Jasem)
and their driver (Aziz Alawi) were killed. The two members were representatives of the Sunnite population, and were included
in the Drafting Committee on Monday 18th July 2004. They were murdered only a few days after receiving threats by sectarian
political parties, competing for privileges in the Iraqi Constitution. The killings took place near an Iraqi police check
point and another checkpoint of commando militias; neither party interfered to prevent the killing. The two members were killed
in "Al-Karadeh" area, which is known to be a central area for the headquarters of influential parties in the Iraqi government.
The government condemned the incident and expressed its deep sorrow but did not comply to the demands of the political parties
to which the victims pertained. They demanded that an independent international investigation should be conducted and that
the actual Minister of the Interior (Bayan Soulagh) should resign, since he, together with the militias of the opposition
parties, was made responsible for the killings.
- On the 14th of June 2005, Mr., Abed Al-Salam Ilwan Al-Ghanem, member of the National Democratic Party in
Iraq was kidnapped in the area of "Abu Al-Khuseib" in Basra. His body was found 3 days later by the police in the "Al-Hartha"
area and was then taken to Al-Faiha Hospital.
- The killing of Shiekh Hasan Al Nuaimi of the Muslim Scholars Assembly in front of Al Shahid Yousif Mosque
in Al Shaab city after arresting him by the Iraqi forces in 15/5/2005, after finding his body with another 14 dead bodies,
killed and disfigured in a garbage in al shaab area, and after two days from arresting him, where the Muslim scholars assembly
have accused the Bader Militia for committing this crime after the appearance of an internal letter for these militia ordering
one of its branches to monitor a group of persons where it was found out that the name of Shiakh Hasan Al Nuaimi was among
these names.
3. Violation of Children's Rights
- Children are suffering negative psychological effects since the beginning of occupation and military operations. Children
suffer from fear and exhibit aggressive behaviour. A further indicator of their suffering is their worsening performance at
school.
- Some educational areas are still suffering from the violation of their educational rights. In Fallujah, 6 schools are
still being used as headquarters for the Iraqi National Guard and the U.S. Army, despite a decree issued by the Council of
Ministers, stressing the importance of clearing the schools, so that students could return. Although the fighting has ended
more than 10 months ago, the school children, whose schools were destroyed in the September and October battles, are taking
classes in tents under miserable health conditions. Naturally, school children should be in their school buildings, and the
military should be operating from tents. Furthermore, the building of the government department for education in Fallujah
is used by the Iraqi and U.S. Armies, while the department for education has to use a school building as temporary offices.
- In the past two months, the military operations in the areas of west Iraq, destroyed and damaged many schools in cities
such as Al-Qa'em, Haditha, Al-Karableh, Heet, and Al-Ramadi, thereby hindering students from continuing the recent school
year. Furthermore, the Faculty of Agriculture – Anbar University, was occupied by the U.S. Army, thereby increasing
the difficulties for students and university staff in completing their academic aims, such as forcing the classes to take
place in an inadequate site within the university.
- Despite the appeal by departments of education to facilitate the attendance of schools and universities for students,
the procedures to enter cities such as Falluja and other cities west of the Euphrates, which have been under siege for a long
time, were deliberately hardened, thus negatively effecting the attendance of schools and universities and the possibilities
to take examinations.
- There are cases of children being in prisons along with their parents, such as the case of two children 4 and 3 years
old, who are together with their mother in the women's prison in Babel.
- As some released prisoners confirm, there are cases where children are tortured in front of their parents so as to get
to confessions from the latter, as has happened in the prison of Abu Ghraib.
- The Director of the Department of Cancerous Diseases in the Ministry of Health has asserted that the number of children
infected with hepatitis has exceeded 1750 cases. The reasons for this rising number of infected children are the environmental
pollution as a consequence of war, the insufficient number of specialized hospitals, and the scarcity of necessary medication.
4. The Health Situation
- The greatest violation in this field was the prohibition of rescue and medical teams, including the rescue teams of the
Ministry of Health and those of international organisations, to enter areas of military conflicts where a great number of
civilians were still living. The pretence for the prohibition was the critical security situation. Therefore, these teams
were hindered from fulfilling their humanitarian assistance needed by the civilians in areas of fighting between the U.S.
Army and Iraqi fighters. This by itself is a crime against humanity and a crime of war.
- The occupation of Fallujah Hospital, on 17th of November 2004, during the November battle is the most prominent example
for such criminal acts. Not only were the hospital staff and all patients arrested, but also was the internal central clinic
of the hospital bombed, killing patients and two doctors. The Al-Ahli hospital (Khaled Al-Janabi Hospital) was first plundered
and then destroyed. Furthermore, some hospitals in the cities of Hadithah, Al-Qa'em and Al-Ramadi were occupied to serve as
military bases for the U.S. and Iraqi Armies, without providing alternative health care possibilities to the people of those
cities.
- The Office of National Drug Control reported an increase in narcotraffic; Baghdad and Karbala are the cities with the
highest drug circulation. Previously, Iraq was considered to be only a corridor of drug traffic, but is now considered to
be a consuming country with 2 million addicts, among them 780,000 school and university students.
- In the time period between 2004 and July 2005, the cases of liver cancer have increased causing 269 deaths, according
to the report of a hospital specialized in diseases of the digestive system and liver diseases. These report further states
that since the year 2003 more than 10,000 citizens are suffering from liver cancer. The report relates the increasing number
of these cases to the pollution of drinking water in most of the areas in Baghdad and in other governorates.
- On the 19th of July 2005, more than 30 doctors in Yarmouk Hospital went on strike, demanding that they should be able
to treat the patients freely, without the continuous threat by Iraqi soldiers. The strike caused more than 100 patients to
remain without any medical treatment on that day. Iraqi soldiers had burst into the hospital's women ward, carrying out an
inspection of the female patients. A young doctor present, showed dissatisfaction, which then caused him to be maltreated
and threatened by the soldiers. The soldiers punched him in the stomach with their guns and one of them then prepared his
gun, still directed at the doctor's stomach, to trigger. The patients' family members intervened, pulling the doctor away.
Nevertheless, 4 soldiers followed him pointing their weapons to his head, ordering him to beg for his life. It was only then,
as the doctor was on his knees begging for his life, that the soldiers left.
- On the 26th of July 2005, members of the National Guard destroyed the Intensive Care Unit at the Medical City and attacked
the medical staff, after one of their colleagues had died in spite of the medical attention he had received. The doctors went
on strike, protesting against the violation of their right, against the insults they have been subjected to and against the
destruction of the hospitals properties and facilities, due to which other patients are now deprived of intensive medical
care.
- In sequence of the U.S. military attacks on the city of "Heet", and the besiege of the city for more than 10 days, the
General Director of Heet Hospital was arrested by the U.S. Army.
- On the 18th of April 2004, the U.S. military forces and the Iraqi police stormed the Yarmouk Hospital. A patient, Abbas
Medhat Mahmoud, was dragged out of a surgical operation, with the claim that he belongs to the resistance. This act is a clear
violation to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 concerning the treatment of prisoners of war and wounded.
- Establishing a check points near the road of the medical clinic in Al Hoor rajab area near Baghdad's borders, where is
caused the closing of the clinic due to the difficulties caused by this check point that prevents doctors and nurses from
reaching the clinic. This clinic is for distributing medications and drugs for chronic diseases, and its closure will lead
to the death of many patients, specially that those drugs aren't available in pharmacies.
5. Collective Punishment
- The U.S. Army applied the method of collective punishment of civilians, with the pretence that armed groups
of fighters live among them. The U.S. Army bombed the city of Fallujah killing more than 700 persons in the month of April,
and more than 1200 persons during the November battle. On the outskirts of the city, in the Al-Sajar area, a mass grave with
more than 400 bodies was found, including bodies of children, men and women of all age groups. The rests of other bodies found
under the ruins were gathered by the U.S. Army and were then disposed of in the "Al-Maqale'" area, outside of Fallujah. This
area is now officially closed, no entrance is permitted. Collective punishment was also conducted on the citizens of the cities
of Al-Qa'em and Al-Karabelah, without discrimination between young or old.
Before that, a wedding party at Al-Qa'em was
bombed killing more than 41 persons, most of them children and women, in addition to the groom Mohammad Rakad Al-Fahdawi and
his brother Ahmad.
- The U.S. Army bombed the village of Al-Bofraj, near Al-Ramadi (west Iraq) with heavy artillery after the
U.S. military base there had been attacked by Iraqi fighters. The bombing killed 3 citizens, a woman and a child were injured.
- During a five day siege, the city of Ruwah (West Iraq) was bombed randomly, causing the families to flee.
- During the initial and random bombing of Fallujah in the night from 13th to 14th October, 34 buildings were
damaged. According to medical centers in the city the number of victims could not be identified, due to the fact that the
bombing increased and many of the victims were buried beneath the ruins.
- During the military attacks on the city of Haditha, conducted by the U.S. and Iraqi Forces, civilians send
out a letter demanding help, since their city was being deemed permissible, their women and children and elderly were being
killed, among them Sheikh Ismaeel Al-Rawi as he came out of the mosque (Al-Saif Al-Haditha) after attending the morning prayers.
Families were driven out of their homes, which were then turned into military bases.
Further, the citizens were subject
to abuse and insults by the members of the National Guard.
6. Women's Rights
- The rape of Iraqi women prisoners in the prisons of Abu Ghoreib and Buka is the most marked violation of
women's rights. Many of these women committed suicide after being released because they could not live with the shame and
disgrace they and their families were subjected to, and to find relief from the great psychological agony tormenting them.
Many Iraqi prisoners asserted that Iraqi Forces locked up men and women together in the same cell, all of them naked, and
that the screaming of women while being harassed and raped was heard.
One Iraqi woman, after being released from Abu
Ghoreib, reported that her cell inmate was brought back into the cell and remained unconscious for two days. After regaining
conscious, she told that she had been raped by U.S. soldiers more than 17 times. Her psychological state and her health situation
gravely deteriorated in the following days, nearly causing her death.
Another woman prisoner in Abu Ghoreib committed
suicide after she was raped in front of her husband, as her sister later testified. The prisoner had told her sister, that
U.S. soldiers had burst into their home in search for her husband. When they could not find him, they imprisoned her instead.
Hearing of the imprisonment of his wife, the husband turned himself in. He was put in a cell and was tied to the metal bars
before his wife was brought in front of him. One U.S. soldier was tearing her by the hair, while another tore down her clothes,
and a third raped her more than once, while her husband was screaming "Allahu Akbar". After this attack on her, she repeatedly
asked her sister to help her commit suicide, since she could not live with this disgrace and would never be able to look her
husband in the eyes again. She was arrested in December 2003 and released in May 2004.
A similar case was reported
by a prisoner, who had witnessed how a young girl was raped in front of her father, who was tied up to the bars in cell 42
in Abu Ghoreib, so as to get the man to confess.
Another prisoner confirmed, that Iraqi women were shouting to their
male inmates to kill them, to free them from the torture they were subjected to. He recognized among these women an acquaintance,
a 35 year old woman, mother of 3 children. After she was released, she was killed by her brother to wash away the dishonor
of the family.
Dr. Huda Al-Na'imi, professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences at the University of Baghdad, affirmed
the feeling of loss and insecurity by family members as to how to deal with the victims of their families. An example to this
is the story of a young man, whose sister was released from prison and she was pregnant. Being sure that his sister was a
victim, but nevertheless being torn between the compassion and dishonor, he consulted a religious leader on what to do in
this situation. The religious leader told him that he should save her life.
- Women family members of prisoners, searching and looking for their relatives (sons, fathers, brothers, husbands)
are subjected to sexual harassments. It is reported that these women are being searched in a manner, which is not conform
to the values and traditions of the Iraqi people. Further, these women are spending a lot of time looking for their relatives
in various prisons, which forces them to stay away from their work places, homes and children.
The scandals of Abu
Ghoreib and Buka prisons, which have become public, do not represent more than 10% of the actual crimes that had happened
and which are still happening there. Though, the greatest crime of all is – as U.S. American documents and evidence
shows - that these violations are being committed based on orders of the highest ranking officers, on head of them General
Sanchez, and with the knowledge of the U.S. Minister of Defense.
- Cases of deliberate killings of women, such as the case of an Iraqi woman (wife of Jum'a Al-Dalemi) in "Al-Mahmoudiyah"
area, who was murdered on the 24th of January 2005, when Soldiers of the Iraqi National Guard where about to kill her two
sons for no obvious reason. The woman threw herself on her sons, so as to protect them, and was therefore killed by the soldiers,
who afterwards also killed her two sons (Basem and Dia').
- During the battles of September 2004, 149 women in Fallujah were dishonored and the bodies of dead women
were mutilated. Most of the bodies of the victims are buried in a mass grave in "Al-Sajar" area near Fallujah.
Although
the U.S. Army admitted that the bodies are in this mass grave, they do not allow the relatives of the victims to transport
the bodies to the local cemetery. The reason for this prohibition is that the U.S. Army fears the scandal in the press, when
the mass grave is opened and the extent of the committed crimes becomes obvious.
Further, there is another area with
a great heap of rubble, formed by the U.S. Army, as a consequence of clearing the city of all evidence of the crimes committed
during the battles. In this heap, many bodies of civilians and fighters were found.
- The detention of underage women in prisons together with adult prisoners, and delaying their transfer to
courts of justice, despite the danger that threatens these minors by being with adult criminals. Such is the case of two girls,
13 and 16 years of age, who were detained in a cell, together with 11 adult female prisoners in Al-Babel prison.
- The prolongation of detention periods of arrested women, as has happened to the following women in Al-Babel
prison:
- The detained (R. K.), who has been in detention for more than 4 months, together with her daughter (Z.K.)
and her two children.
- (A.A.F.) who has been accused of kidnapping her daughter, and who has been in arrest for more than 7 months
now.
- The accused (F.K.H.) has been in detention for more than 18 months, and her case has still not been submitted
to court.
Regardless of the prisoners' assertion, that they are being well treated at the prison, Al-Babel prison lacks
the most basic hygienic conditions and is not adequately constructed for the imprisonment of human beings.
- There are repeated cases, where women are taken hostages by the occupation forces, in order to find and to
arrest their male relatives, who are being searched for by the U.S. Forces. In addition, the U.S. Army has lately enacted
a Law, permitting the infantry of the naval forces in Al-Mosul to arrest the mothers, sisters and wives of Iraqi fighters,
for the duration of the search, so that the suspects will turn themselves in. This information was confirmed by a Colonel
of the Iraqi Army, who prefers to stay in anonymous.
These procedures were forbidden by the U.S. Army after complaints
by the Ministry of Human Rights in Iraq, but are now in effect again. In one case, 4 girls less than 20 years old were arrested
in their house in the "Somer" area.
A letter was left behind, in which the kidnappers threatened the safety of the
girls, if their relatives did not turn themselves in. Furthermore, many of former prisoners of Abu Ghoreib assured that the
torture of women and children were common practice to scare and force their relatives to reveal information or to confess
the participation in military actions against U.S. Forces.
These kinds of procedures, bear the danger of increasing
military actions against U.S. Forces, since the Iraqi people is known to be committed to religious and social traditions,
and revenge to restore the honor and dignity of the victims families will be taken. All this leads to contra violence, enforcing
the circle of violence.
- On the 27th of June 2005, the Council of the Governorate of Meesan, as well as organisations and other authorities
declared they were boycotting any cooperation with the British troops because of the inhuman treatment the citizens of the
governorate were subjected to. They referred to the case of inhuman treatment of a pregnant woman, which led to miscarriage,
the arrest of a number of innocent citizens, and the offense and insult of government employees.
7. Prisoners of War and Prisoners
Despite the fact that the
General Secretary of the United Nations and other international organizations have acknowledged the existence of more than
10,000 randomly arrested persons without clear charges, U.S. and Iraqi Forces continue with their arbitrary arrests and prolonged
detentions of Iraqi citizens. These arrests continue despite a recently issued decree by the actual Council of Ministers prohibiting
any detentions without lawful judgment. Nevertheless, there have been reports on cases, where judges issued verdicts to release
a prisoner, but the executive authorities did not comply with this verdict. The disregard of these verdicts is sometimes used
as a means to receive bribes by the detained person's family members.
The most outrageous and terrible acts witnessed
these days in prisons and detention camps is the inhuman treatment of children. Children are tortured to either make them
or their parents confess crimes they did not commit. And although the U.S. Forces have established a council for those who
want to appeal against the arrest of their children, this council does not have any practical effect and rather serves to
polish the image of the U.S. Forces. In effect, this council does not hinder the U.S. Forces to violate the Geneva Conventions
of 1949. The Geneva Conventions also state that citizens may only be arrested for security reasons or to trial them because
of penal crimes they have committed, and that they have the right to appeal. The right of detainees to appeal is not granted
in Iraq. Penalties of 3 months are extended to become several years.
It has to be mentioned, that the most dangerous
violation of the rights of Iraqi prisoners in U.S. detention camps in Iraq, is their transfer into U.S. prison camps outside
of Iraq, such as the camp at Guantanamo, prisons on board of U.S. warships located in the Arabic Gulf and in the Pacific Ocean,
and to prisons within Kuwaiti territories. The International Red Cross affirmed the presence of 8500 Iraqi prisoners of war
in Kuwait.
8. Torture and Violations of Human Rights in Detention Camps and in Prisons
The number of Iraqi prisoners in U.S. prison camps is estimated to exceed 280,000 prisoners of both sexes and all
ages. The methods of torture and the exertion of pressure on prisoners to make them confess to crimes they have not committed,
such as joining the armed resistance or give false information about people, vary greatly.
- U.S. military medical cadres remove organs and body parts from wounded prisoners before killing them, as
well as from prisoners sentenced to death. These body parts are then sold, via a well organized network, in the U.S. Many
bodies of the victims killed by U.S. forces were lacking organs. Oddly, the medical reports testified natural causes of death.
- Cases of prisoners infected with phthisis pneumonalis in the prison of Al-Mosul Police Department were reported.
The causes of infection are maltreatment and physical torture. Five prisoners, Ra'fat Aziz Mansour, Marwan and three others
were infected. When this became known to the officials, the prisoners were disposed of by transferring them to external prisons
on the 11th of July 2005.
The military and security corps are applying methods of torture which are more brutal and
bloody than those used by the occupation forces. Nevertheless, formerly used methods of torture are still applied such as:
-
Whipping on the back with wires - Kicking in the lower body parts - Shackling
using iron chains and leaving the tortured hanging from bars or windows in painful positions for long periods of time -
Burning the bodies using cigarettes - To struck prisoners with electricity, especially in the genitals -
Solitary confinement into cages, small enough so there is even no possibility to sit - Deprivation
of sleep - Signing of testimonies without permission to read these
The former kinds of torture
were extended to include drilling holes into the bodies and using acids, such as sulfuric acids, burning parts of the body.
During torture, the tortured are promised to be spared further torture, if they confess having committed crimes. These methods
were used in Al-Mosul and other parts of Iraq.
- Despite a recently issued decree by the Council of Ministers, presided by its president Dr. Al-Jafari, prohibiting
the detention of any person without an order by court, arbitrary and unjustified arrests are still carried out. An example
for these arbitrary detentions is the case of two men, arrested by the Wolf Brigade (Al-Theeb) in Al-Mosul. The two men have
been in arrest for over five months now, without any clear charges or evidence against them. Confessions were taken from them
by means of torture. Currently they are detained at the Police Department of Al-Mosul in Sirdab after having spent 3 months
in a prison in Al-Theeb district, and 2 months at the police department in Ninawa.
- The U.S. forces have turned some vital public facilities into head quarters and prisons, as they have done
at the Al-Maseeb Electricity Station and at Al-Karkh Water Clarification Station at Al-Taremiyah, thereby hindering these
facilities to serve the Iraqi citizens.
- The Iraqi Vice-Minister of Justice, Judge Bosho Ibrahim, declared the initiation of building two huge prisons
in Iraq, with a capacity of 7,000 prisoners complying with international standards. The first will be built in Al-Nasseriyah
and will be able to take in 4,000 prisoners. The second will be built in the area of Bani Khan in the governorate of Diyali
with a capacity for 2,800 prisoners. The construction of a third prison at Rania Military Castle in the governorate of Al-Salmaniyah
is planned. These prisons will take in prisoners who are sentenced to life. The plans seem to be an encouraging step towards
detaining more Iraqi prisoners in support of the detention campaigns carried out in the name of fighting terrorism? For further
information, 200 million U.S. $ have been granted by U.S. sources for the construction of new Iraqi prisons.
The same
source affirmed the existence of 3273 imprisoned and detained persons in the prisons of Baghdad, 2140 prisoners in the prisons
of the central areas, and 1333 prisoners in the prisons of the southern area. In addition, there are 180 prisoners in the
women's prison in Al-Kathemiyah in Baghdad. No information could be obtained on the number of prisoners in the northern areas
where, according to U.S. press sources, a great number of prisoners are being held and continuous violations, with the knowledge
of the U.S. forces, are taking place.
- In Fallujah, a clergy (A.A.S.) was arrested and tortured for 4 days by security forces, whose president is
General Mahdi Al-Gharawi. The arrested was then handed over to U.S. forces, which found him innocent of any charge and thus
released him. His testimony and the marks of torture were registered by the representative of the Ministry of Human Rights
in the region. This representative asserted that more than 50 persons had been arrested in Fallujah in February, and that
most of them had been tortured and had only been released after authorities had received bribes, ranging from 600 to 1200
U.S.$.
- Released prisoners of Buka prison (Basra) testified that U.S. forces killed 4 prisoners in this prison on
the 29th of January 2005 and a fifth prisoner on the 3rd of February 2005.
In addition, the health status of the prisoners
and arrested persons is very bad, as most of them were put in tents that don’t contain any of the basic health rights
that should be available.
All these happenings taking place shows that there are many executions cases have taken
place out of the law, and many arbitrary executions without trials are committed. This is shown through the long periods of
arresting without doing any trails.
9. Minorities
Some of the minorities, such as the Christian
and the Arabic minorities suffer from persecution and the violations of their rights in the City of Karkouk by militias belonging
to the two Kurdish parties. Many have fled the city fearing acts of revenge and terror and which are carried out to scare
and force them to leave the city in order to gain full control for the Kurds in the city.
On the morning of 17th July
2005, a group of the Iraqi National Guards burned down the headquarters of the Turkman Front in Al-Kafa'at neighborhood in
Al-Mosul after arresting 7 of the local guards of the headquarter. The responsible of the headquarters, Mohammad Aljarallah,
was not allowed to remove the belongings from the building. The pretense of the National Guards was that they heard a bullet
being shot by one of the local guards of the headquarters, a felony denied by the head of that office.
The situation
in Kirkouk is increasingly worsening because of the Kurdish monocracy in authority and their marginalization and trivialization
of the role of the other races. In addition, the delay of the implementation of resolution 58 of the Interim Constitution
(Interim Government Law), which states that the previously confiscated real estate should be returned to its legal owners,
is being delayed; this specially concerns the Turkman minority. Mr. Riyadh Sari Kahya, head of the Turkman Eli Political Party
and member in the national council and the constitution writing committee, confirmed the above stated.
10. Refugees
The most prominent human rights violation in this
field is driving away the citizens of Falloujah, causing approximately 300,000 persons to become displaced for a period longer
than 3 months. Very poor humanitarian aid caused further suffering, especially to women and children. Many still fear the
repetition of the military attacks, as has happened in April and September. Further military operations against cities of
the Middle Euphrates, and especially in the governorate of Al-Anbar, created even more refugees.
The Palestinian refugees
in Iraq have also suffered from transgressions and arbitrarily and unjustified arrests. Some of the cases involved torture
and killings, as has happened in Al-Ni'airia neighborhood in Baghdad, where 6 people were arrested including an aged man called
Zuhair Hassan Ahmad Alkhazna (a palastinian refugee). His family claimed that they heard about his arrest on Al-Furat Satellite
TV channel even before he was actually arrested by the Wolf Brigade, one of the police commando brigades, which is mainly
constituted of the militias of the political parties. Alkhazna's body was delivered to the forensic medicine department in
the Medical City by an officer in the Wolf brigade, Jwad Abdul'ameer, claiming that he had found the body but knew nothing
about its identity. The body carried marks of brutal torture.
In the city of Al-Qa'im, and due to the contunious fighting
and air bombardments, 50 - 60 families have fled the city and are still afraid to go back. These operations have resulted
in killing 50 civilians, including 8 people from one family of Mr. Soori Hajeej Arrawi. 5 schools, 2 mosques, the health office
in Al-Karabla area, as well as the water treatment and the power plant of Al-Qa'im have suffered damages.
About 500
families have fled from the city of Rawa to the Ubaidi area because of the fighting and air bombardments, as governmental
relief agencies working there have mentioned.
11. Racism
One of the biggest crimes committed by occupation
is establishing the bases of racism by dividing the temporary government authorities and institutions according to racial
and religious backgrounds. This practice was widened by the bad-reputed Emergency Law. Therewith, if a certain political party
takes control of a certain ministry, the former staff and cadres, especially those of higher and key positions, are being
dismissed and released from their offices, so as to be replaced by new staff pertaining to that political party. This, for
example, has happened in the Ministry of Electricity at the beginning of the Al-Ja'afari government period. The newly appointed
Minister of Electricty belonged to the Shi'ite confession; three General Directors within the Ministry, all belonging to the
Sunnite confession, were then dismissed and replaced by three Shi'a counterparts. The same happened in other ministries.
Baan
Solagh, the Minister of Interior in Al-Ja'afari government, did the same in his Ministry. He further used security forces
which were mainly constituted of the militia of his party (SCIRI). In one incident, a group of security forces (Group 20),
who were being trained in Jordan, were surprised to see upon their return, that the post that they were supposed to fill had
been given to other people, while they had been fired for no justified reasons. This incident led to the dismissal of 1200
graduates of the security forces, and was confirmed by Noori Alnoori, the General Inspector in the Ministry of Interior.
There
is a current debate to merge the different parties' militias into the Iraqi Army without considering the necessity of forming
the army from independent individuals who will only follow the orders of the government and not the directions of their parties
or who are affected by their parties' policies.
In the city of Samawa and despite the approval of Dr. Ibraheem Al-Ja'afari
to appoint 1,987 police men, many of the nominated were replaced by others with different excuses. The replaced police men
organized a peaceful demonstration on Tuesday, 19th July 2005, demanding their rights. The demonstration was ended when the
police opened fire on the demonstrators in the presence of the governorate's Mayor Muhammad Alziadi, killing Razzaq Faisal
Salman and injuring 7 others.
The security forces have committed many arrests based on citizen's confessions, especially
in Sunni dominated neighborhoods in Baghdad. In Alamiriya, Alkhadhra, Al'iskan, and Abu Ghoraib persons were arrested after
viewing their IDs according to their confessions and family names.
There are sectarian and racial discriminations
in the arrests being made in the cities of Al-Mosul and Karkouk. Kurdish arrestees were released shortly after their arrests
because the investigating officers were Kurds.
It is worth noticing that the sectarian feelings are being used only
by some of the political parties and militias who want to gain wide public support, employing sectarian propaganda and using
their media to strengthen their influence, while a large portion of the Iraqi people reject and resent such racist methods.
In the northern parts of the governorate of Babel, random killings take place among the different religious confessions.
The aim of these killings is to start a sectarian civil war that will spill over to other parts of the country. Some of the
citizens in that area reported that the violence was started by militias of some of the political parties.
12. Religious and Civil Freedoms
Since the beginning of occupation,
the occupation forces did not conceal their fears and hatred towards the Islamic worshiping places since they consider them
to be the source of inspiration for those who fight the occupation. Despite all international treaties, concerning the preservation
of religious freedoms, the occupation forces failed to respect the sacredness of holy places and of the right to conduct religious
rituals.
It has become common practice to launch raids against the worshipping places, such as the raid of Al-Haq
mosque in Alsha'ab neighborhood in Baghdad on 21st July 2005 by police forces. Sheikh Ahmad Hasan Alnajjar, the mosque's preacher,
along with his son Tariq were arrested, the doors of the mosques were destroyed and its belongings were messed with. Similar
acts on the Sunni mosques in Iraq have become daily practice.
The American forces supported by the Iraqi forces have
carried out raids against more than 143 mosques in Baghdad, and more than once against the same mosques in some cases. In
addition to the desecration of these places of worship, they caused damages to the buildings and to their possessions (see
Appendix 2).
The American and the Iraqi forces have killed more than 53 preachers and mosques servants and arrested
more than 665 for no clear reasons (see Appendices 3 and 4).
On 20th January 2005, during a routine patrol in Buka
jail in Basra city, the American forces tore the holy Qur'an. This profanation resulted in an uproar among the prisoners,
who then demonstrated and clashed with the occupation forces, ending with the killing of 4 prisoners and injuring 2 American
soldiers.
The Emergency Law is being used to supress many civil rights. In the city of Falloujah, for example, peaceful
demonstrations are only allowed after obtaining the approval of the military governor Genral Mahdi Alghrawi, who orders random
arrests and receives bribes from relatives of tortured detainees, as was reported by many citizens.
The Council of
the governorate of Babil issued a resolution to prohibit peaceful demonstrations until an undetermined date, after an explosion
that killed one of the police commandos. This resolution denies the basic civil right to the freedom of expression.
13. The Situation of the Defenders of Human Rights
Many workers
in the field of human rights have been denied access to the American and the Iraqi jails. The field team of the Baghdad Center
for Human Rights was denied access to the city of Fallujah. One member of the team was assaulted and the others were expelled.
Ali Al-Shammaa', the chairman of the Iraqi Organization of Human Rights, along with 3 of the members were killed in
his office. Nothing was taken from the office, indicating that the criminals were not looters but rather that they object
to the spread of ideas and to the education of the human rights in the new Iraqi society.
14. Sovereignty of Law
The ill-reputed emergency Law opened
the doors to the security and army forces, such as the Wolf Brigade, which pertains to the Iraqi Ministry of Interior and
which is constituted of individuals from some extremist political militias, to violate human rights. Such as the massive random
arrests and the application of extreme methods of torture to obtain false confessions, and displaying these lies-confessions
on Al-Iraqia; the Iraqi formal TV channel. Curiously, some of the tortured confessed to have murdered; the names of their
victims were actually names of their relatives and friends, who were still alive. These were later known as the "living-dead".
In light of these violations, the Committee for Human Rights in the Lawyers Union carried out a large investigation in the
city of Al-Mosul, where the above mentioned crimes took place in large scale, based on the Union's order No 3510, issued on
29th march 2005. The investigations took place between the 9th and 15th of April 2005. The results of the investigation are
as follows:
- The Iraqi judicial Authority has no influence on the violation activities of the Wolf Brigade because the
orders of the Coalition (occupation) Authority state that crimes of terrorism must be handled by the ICCC (Iraqi Central Criminal
Court).
- The presidency of the Court of Appeal in Al-Mosul refused to appoint an investigating magistrate to the investigation
committee that was headquartered in the Wolf Brigade, since the trivial role of the judges and their presence in such committees
cannot impose any judicial legitimacy to the investigation, because these committees are far from following legitimate methods
in their investigations.
- Video recordings are used to broadcast dubious confessions, in order to humiliate the detainees, their families
and their tribes. These broadcasts of unasserted sayings can turn into a wide social scandal with harmful consequences for
the detainees, their relatives, and friends. It was affirmed that elements of terrorism are included in the investigation
procedures for political purposes, driving the Wolf Brigade to commit these violations.
- The Director of the Ninawa (Musil) Police Department admitted to the Committee for Human Rights of the Lawyers
Union that the wolf Brigade committed violations and carried out investigations that are far from being truthful and that
these investigations will be repeated in a proper way.
- The emergency state and the orders of the occupation authority stress that no lawyer can be representing
the suspects can be present during the investigation. This is a dangerous precedent encouraging the violations of human rights
against the suspects.
- In Al-Mosul police headquarters, a poster hanged on the walls, saying "Policemen, shoot to kill, but economize
on bullets". The Human Rights Committee considers such a saying to be a clear invitation for policemen to kill before making
sure of the reasons, and further considers it to be an indicator of the legal and humanitarian state of the officials there.
The poster was removed after the Lawyers Union Human Rights Committee complained to the Director of Police of Al-Mosul.
- The so called "living-dead" amounted to 27 persons (Appendix 5), confessed by 11 suspects. The Lawyers Union
Human Rights Investigation Committee concluded that the investigators at the Wolf Brigade were full of hatred and prior intentions
even before starting the investigations, and that they were driven by political and sectarian motives and trying to cover
their inability to enforce security. The common methods of mixing lies with the truth are applied in an attempt to spread
a feeling of security.
- The total of the people who were forced to give false testimonies is 23, and is 26 persons have suffered
the consequences of these false confessions.
- Questioning some witnesses to the investigations carried out by the Wolf Brigade, the witness (A.T.Y.) stated
that the detainees were in a horrible condition. He saw the detainee (B.J.M.) vomiting blood, his head was swollen. He also
saw his father's broken hand and his brother's broken fingers. The witness and detainee (T.K.S.) stated that he was subjected
to many types of torture and that he was beaten for no obvious felony. The detainee (S.R.S.) stated that he saw marks of torture
on the bodies of most of the detainees. He also stated that he had heard the cries of women, sisters of the detainees, brought
in by the investigators so as to threaten the detainees, in case they don't confess, with raping the women. He also saw how
Sheikh (T.R.S.) was tortured by hitting him on his hands and connecting electricity to his imputed leg and his genitals. They
made him falsely confess that he had homosexual intercourse inside the mosque. The woman detainee (A.N.A.) stated that the
investigators tortured her and asked her to confess that her detained husband was involved in terrorist acts and that he dealt
with Syria and Israel for money. Finally, the detainee (A.A.A.) testified to the Committee, in the presence of a lawyer from
Al-Mosul, about the torture he was subjected to and showed them the physical evidence of electric torture and extinguished
cigarettes in his eye and on his body.
- The Union's Committee for Human Rights detected that 4 lawyers were arrested by the American forces, the
Iraqi Army and by the Kurdish Peshmarga for no clear reasons and with no prospect of release in the near future. These lawyers
are: Sa'ad Muhammad Zaki, Husham Talal Yoosif Alzubaidi, Umar Mahmood Sabah Ahmad, and Miz'al Muhammad Al'adil The Committee
demanded compensations for the lawyers who were arrested previously and released in the past.
- The Union's Committee for Human Rights further found out that some victims had died under the torture of
the American forces and the Iraqi Wolf Brigade. One case is that of Sheikh Sabbar Aldulaimi (a preacher) who was viciously
tortured by putting him in a big hole of neck-high rotten water containing dead bodies. He was kept in the water hole for
two days. He died two days after his release, and after having his lower limbs imputed because of his infection with septicaemia.
This particular hole was especially used for the clergy men and preachers of the mosques. Another victim is Khalid Rajab Muhammad
who was tortured to death by the American forces, as photographs of his body, later shown by his wife (A.A.H.), indicate.
A further victim is Adil Ahmad Abdullah Almallah who was tortured to death by the Wolf Brigade and the Ninawa (Mosul) Police
and as can be seen in the photos that his wife (N.A.M.) presented.
- The Lawyers' Union Committee for Human Rights confirmed that mosques, preachers, and worshipers were subject
of many assaults, aiming at defaming the clergy men and mosques. The mosque of Salih Alnooh was savagely raided, the Imam
was assaulted and the mosques properties were stolen.
Further, the possessions of Sheikh Akram Yaseen Muhammad; the
mosque's Imam, were taken. The Imam was arrested under the false charge of possessing arms; he still is in detention. After
this incident, the mosque was repeatedly raided. Another case was the assault on a mosque in the Bab Likish neighborhood,
close to the Municipality building. Sheikh Abu Tabarak (Talal Ra'ad Salman), the mosque's preacher, was arrested. He later
appeared on Aliraqia TV giving false testimony, though the marks of torture and burns were clearly visible. The judiciary
committee at Ninawa Police Department responsible for investigating cases of detainees issued the decision to release Sheikh
Abu Tabarak on July 13th 2005 after it had become clear to them, that the allegations brought against him by the Wolf Brigade
were groundless.
- The Union's Committee for Human Rights ascertained that 2 persons, Ammar Sameer Jameel and Husain Abdulkareem
Mahmood, were killed by the U.S. forces and that another 20 persons were arrested by American and Iraqi forces on the charge
of suspicion (Appendix 7 ).
The American forces disarmed the police force of Al-Amiria Residential Compound in Fallujah
and prohibited them from staying at the police station. They threatened the police men with arrest if they continued with
their work, accusing them of not being efficient or capable. The residential compound therefore remained without the protection
of police or Law and without any alternative of security. This encouraged thieves to rob apartments and to kill civilians,
and to further inflame the sectarian conflict.
On the other hand, the military governor of Falloujah city; General
Mahdi Alghrawi, refused a list of new policemen which was sent to him by Al-Anbar Governorate Council, claiming that the selection
was not efficient. He agreed on the return of 250 police men to the city and another 100 to return to their posts in the outskirts,
out of the total police force of 2,000. He thereby hindered relaxation of tension in the city. The feelings of hatred among
the citizens towards the men of this military governor increased, since his decisions aim solely at maintaining his and his
men's control in the city. The forces of this brigade are often seen in the streets of the city, shooting live bullets in
the air for no reason or for simple reasons, such as to open the road for their vehicles. This behavior has become very common
for Iraqi and American forces on the streets of most parts of Iraq.
On the night of 28th May 2005, a group of the
National Guards was patrolling in the city, when one of the soldiers mistakenly shot himself after their car stumbled on something
on the road. His colleagues thought that their patrol was under fire, so they started shooting on everyone around. This resulted
in injuring 17 civilians, mainly women and children. One of the injured children died 2 days after. On the next day, an officer
in the National Guards gathered the citizens of that area and apologizes to them. Nevertheless, the soldiers responsible for
this incident were not punished. Official Iraqi and American sources later claimed that a joint patrol came under attack and
that the victims of the incident were a consequence of retaliation.
Many Iraqi legal sides and civil NGOs demand a
greater role for the Iraqi judicial authorities in supervising the upcoming referendum and the following elections, especially
after the failure of the independent commission for election supervision in fulfilling their responsibility, and as was shown
by Iraqi networks monitoring the elections, reporting many misconducts in the election process.
The citizens of Baladrooz
area called out complaining about the local police chief; Lieutenant Colonel Ali Isma'eel (known as Ali Cable) and his brother,
Colonel Waleed Isma'eel (known as Waleed Cable), who carried out a campaign of random and unjustified arrests against the
Sunni Moslems in that area, and especially against the Clergy men such as Sheikh Younis, preacher at Al'islam mosque in Baladrooz,
Sheikh Nafi Ali Husain, preacher at Aldahlakia mosque, and Sheikh Hamdan, preacher at Alsumood mosque. Sheikh Ali; preacher
at Almustafa mosque, was found dead 10 days after he was kidnapped from his car.
According to the call of the citizens
of Baladrooz, 100 persons were detained and tortured, some of them by cutting of their fingers while others were raped. Some
of the detained died as a consequence of the torture, such as the detained (A.S.), while the fate and whereabouts of others
remains unknown. Other detainees were released after bribing Lieutenant Colonel Ali Cable. Most mosques in the city are now
empty and deserted because of these continuous terrorist acts and violations.
Some of the detainees assured, that
they were transferred to the Ninawa (Mosul) Police Department after they had been interrogated by the Wolf Brigade. According
to the list of names of the transferred detainees, 18 detainees were missing at arrival, while the Wolf Brigade claims to
have transferred all of the detainees listed. The director of the Ninawa (Mosul) Police Department documented the statements
made by the detainees, who stated that the missing 18 detainees died under torture on the hands of the Wolf Brigade.
15. Sovereignty Violations
The Iraqi officials are increasingly
admitting that the transfer of power was not effectively implemented, due to which the instable security situation is persistent.
The former Minister of Justice declared in the Al-Hayat Newspaper that the Minister of Defense and the military leadership
are not allowed to employ and re-employ officers of ranks higher than Captain from the former Iraqi Army. He confirmed that
only the American forces have the authority to appoint officers with ranks higher than Captain in both the Ministry of Defense
and in the Ministry of Interior. He said that there is no real reason for the delay of handing over the security duties and
responsibilities to the Iraqi forces, except for hidden political reasons.
Recommendations
The facts and occurrences stated in this report require true international efforts. The Iraqi people has become
the victim of the silence of the international society and its nonfeasance in helping the Iraqi people, resulting in high
scale governmental corruption, not to mention the organized criminal acts committed by official and semi-official forces and
authorities. Therefore, we would like to put forward the following recommendations:
- To start an international campaign to release the Iraqi detainees in the American prisons which can form
a first step into encouraging the political dialogue among the different Iraqi sides. As the General Secretary of the United
Nations has warned, more than 10,000 detainees have been randomly arrested.
- The withdrawal of the American forces of Iraqi cities as a first step to total departure from Iraq, so that
honorable Iraqi cadres, instead of the American forces and government officials, can provide security to the Iraqi people.
- The legal guarantees for every individual is achieved through giving the judiciary the total independence,
and for the judiciary to have a major and effective role on the jib of the executive power (ministry of interior and defense
and other security institutions in specific), with the cancellation of private courts that violates the individuals rights.
- The prisoners should be put in a known places, the is known officially, and the names of the arrested should
be all documented , with the place and date of investigation, assuring that the prison should be empty of any torture equipments.
- Demand that the Security Council of UN issues a resolution by which new procedures and mechanisms to protect
democracy and human rights in Iraq are deployed, as follows:
- To accelerate the transfer of international supervision to the UN and to substitute the American forces with
Arabic or international forces who did not take part in the occupation of Iraq, thereby stressing on the resolution issued
by the European Parliament on the 26th May 2005, stating a supervision period of no longer than one year and in which the
armed militias are disarmed and the rule of Law is enforced, so that daily violence finds an end.
- To create international supervising committees which regularly visit all the prisons, outside or in Iraq,
where Iraqis are kept prisoners on grounds relate to the two recent Gulf Wars.
- To establish an international investigation committee, which is independent of the Coalition (occupation)
Countries and which looks into to cases of political assassinations and mass killings threatening the future of democracy
in Iraq, and which warns of establishing new dictatorial regimes.
- To form an international committee specialized in dealing with the effects of environmental pollution in
Iraq and which determines the necessary measures to reduce and eliminate these effects.
- To launch an international program to treat the victims of physical and psychological violations of human
rights in Iraq.
- To establish independent Iraqi security and military forces, unaffected by confessionals and political factionalism
and that armed militias are not allowed to joining these forces, on the ground that these militias are loyal to their parties
rather than to their country, people, and law.
- To ask the UN Human Rights High Commissioner to appoint a new supervisor for human rights in Iraq because
of the continuous daily crimes and blood baths taking place under the occupation.
- To cancel the emergency Law which has led to huge human rights violations and has failed in improving the
security situation by giving way to political rivals to solve their disputes forcefully.
- The independent Iraqi judicial authorities must have the high authority on all issues concerning elections
and referendums, in order to guarantee the success of the political process without that election committees be influenced
by political interests, as has happened in the scandalous recent elections. The scandal was covered by the independent commission
observing the elections, but uncovered by Iraqi monitoring committees who proved the failure the independent commission.
- To form an international committee to investigate into the corruption and misappropriation of Iraqi funds
dedicated to the reconstruction of Iraq, that have taken place since the fall of the Saddam regime and until now. In addition,
an international committee investigating into the transactions of the oil for food UN program is required.
- To allow the family members of the victims of the city of Falloujah to remove the remains of their relatives
who are buried in mass graves in Al-Sijir area on the outskirts of the city. Further, to demand that the Iraqi government
accelerates the compensation payments to the citizens, in order to lessen their suffering after the demolition of their city.
Furthermore, to remove all limitations and regulations imposed on the city and its citizens so that they can freely participate
in the political process ongoing in the country.
The international Laws and treaties concerning human rights are based
on justice and equality in the protection of all human beings. Therefore, we find that the recommendations we have made, which
comply with the context and spirit of the International Law, and the included demands addressed to the International Community
are a basic right of the Iraqi people. If the international institutions and governments disregard the crimes and violations
committed, their silence would be tantamount to participating in these crimes.
Sources: Uruknet.info The BRussels Tribunal
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