More Torture
Stories From Iraq
By David Randall
and Andrew Buncombe
27 March 2005
The
Independent
Damning
evidence of American soldiers abusing detainees at another prison in
Iraq was made public yesterday. It details how prisoners were "systematically
and intentionally mistreated" at a military base in Mosul, culminating
in the death of one. Nobody was court-martialled over the abuse.
An investigation
by a US officer after a prisoner's jaw was broken found that inmates
were hit with water bottles, made to do exhausting physical exercises
until they collapsed, deprived of sleep, subjected to deafening heavy
metal music and had cigarette smoke blown into sandbags they were forced
to wear as hoods. One soldier said troops "always harassed the
hell out of detainees"; another said that at times "the detainees
would get so scared they would piss themselves".
In December 2003
a prisoner died after four days of continuous punishment. According
to the documents, which were obtained by the American Civil Liberties
Union, mistreatmentwas not confined to Abu Ghraib jail, where abuse
and sexual humiliation of inmates caused worldwide outrage last year.
The facility at
Mosul was run by the 311th Military Intelligence Battalion of the 101st
Airborne Division. In a memo, the investigating officer said: "There
is evidence that suggests the 311th MI personnel ... engaged in physical
torture." His report in January 2004 said prisoners' rights under
the Geneva Conventions had been violated.
The investigation
was triggered by the case of Salah Salih Jassim, 20, who had his jaw
broken in detention. He was not a suspect but had been arrested along
with his father, an officer in Saddam Hussein's Fedayeen militia. Mr
Jassim was held in a room with 70 other prisoners. Deafening heavy metal
music was played and guards sounded bullhorns beside their heads. Mr
Jassim said: "All night they were throwing water on us and making
us stand and squat. From the night to the next day ... they were beating
us."
The report said:
"The detainees had sandbags over their heads that were marked with
different crimes, leading the guards to believe that the particular
detainee committed that particular crime." The bag on Jassim's
head was marked "IED" the acronym for the roadside bombs
that have killed and maimed hundreds of troops. Soldiers in the room
when Mr Jassim's jaw was broken all said they did not see the incident
and the investigation was unable to determine which guards were at fault.
None was punished.
The newly released
records also had details of other abuse investigations.And last week,
the US reopened an inquiry into how an Iraqi government scientist died
while in detention. Mohammad Munim al-Izmerly, 65 when he died on 31
January 2004, is the only known weapons scientist to have died in US
custody.The family commissioned an Iraqi post mortem, which found he
died of a blow to the head.
©2005 Independent
News & Media (UK) Ltd.