Prisoners
Brutalized In
Baghdad Gulag Prison
By
Gordon Thomas
American Free Press
06 August, 2003
Each
prisoner receives six pints of dank, tepid water a day. He uses it to
wash and drink in summer noonday temperatures of 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
He is not allowed to wash his clothes. He is provided with a small cup
of delousing powder to deal with the worst of his body infestation.
For the slightest
infringement of draconian rules he is forced to sit in painful positions.
If he cries out in protest his head is covered with a sack for lengthy
periods.
This is daily life
in Americas shameful GulagCamp Cropper on the outskirts
of Baghdad International Airport.
Except for guards
and prisoners, only the International Red Cross is allowed inside. They
are forbidden to describe what they see.
But some of its
staff have broken ranksto tell Amnesty International (AI), the
London-based human rights watchdog, of the shocking conditions the 3,000
Iraqi prisoners are held under.
None had been charged
with any offense. They are listed as suspected looters and
rioters. Or listed as loyal to Saddam Hussein.
Every day more prisoners
are crowded into the broiling, dusty compound. Surrounded by 10-foot-high
razor wire, they live in tents that are little protection against the
blistering sun. They sleep 80 to a tent on wafer-thin mats.
Each prisoner has
a long-handled shovel to dig his own latrine. Some are too old or weak
to dig the ordered depth of three feet. Others find they have excavated
pits already used.
The overpowering
stench in this hellhole is suffocating. Add to sleep deprivation
and physical abuse you have highly degrading conditions which are tantamount
to torture and gross abuse of human rights, said Curt Goering,
deputy director of AI.
He confirmed that
AI had received credible reports of detainees who had died
in custody, mostly as a result of shooting by members of the coalition
forces.
Camp Cropper also
houses a growing number of what are listed as special prisoners.
They include the former deputy prime minister, Tariq Aziz, Saadiun Hammadi,
the former speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, and Ezzar Ibrahim, the son
of Saddams second in command on the Revolutionary Command Council.
A woman special
is Huda Ammashknown as Chemical Sally, because she
was a key member of Saddams chemical and biological weapons program.
The week before
he allegedly committed suicide, Dr. David Kelly, the English scientist,
had prepared questions he planned to put to her when he returned to
Iraq to assist in the search for weapons of mass destruction.
Chemical Sally
sleeps in a tent with other women members of the Baath Party.
Like the men, they are not allowed to wash their underwearand
several have developed sores, according to a Red Cross visitor.
After two months
incarceration none of the special prisoners has been told
what charges he or she will facethough several, like Aziz, had
surrendered voluntarily to the Americans.
A glimpse of his
life now has come from one of the few prisoners to be released, Adnan
Jassim.
Tariq Aziz
has aged very much in the past months in the camp. He shuffles and has
a stoop, said Jassim. This may be because he has to dig
his own toilet hole. It is forbidden for anyone to help him to do this.
He is treated just like anyone elsean animal to be driven wherever
the guards want him.
His hair has
grown. It is very dirty. He gets no special treatment: The same terrible
food. Mostly he eats very little of it. It is hard to believe he was
second to Saddam, the most powerful man in Iraq, said Jassim.
Jassim was arrested
the day after the war officially ended. He insists that he was stopped
for speeding.
The Americans
just fired at my car. Then they threw me into a truck and took me to
the camp. At the gate I had a badge pinned to my shirt. It said presumed
killer. I have never even fired a gun, let alone killed anyone,
Jassim insisted.
AIs human
rights workers and Red Cross officials have gathered statements from
the few prisoners who have been released. One detainee, Suheil Laibbi
Mohammed, who used to work as a mechanic, repairing Saddams fleet
of cars, said he had seen prisoners repeatedly hit with rifle butts.
Detainees described
being given food that is inedible to Muslims. Most of the meat was pork.
But it was either eat it or starve, said Rafed Adel Mehdi.
Azizs wife,
Zureida, and his two sons fled to Jordan when the war ended.
In London their
family lawyer, Dr. Abdul Haq al-Ani, wants to serve a writ of habeas
corpus on Britains embattled Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon, arguing
that his client is being held in contravention of the Geneva Convention
and the Human Rights Act.
I spent a
week in Baghdad, but I was not allowed to see my client, said
al-Ani. I know the conditions he is being held under from those
who have been released. It is outrageous what is happening.
Chemical Sallys
family is also planning legal moves to have her freed. They have submitted
evidence to the Americans that she has breast cancer and has to continue
treatments.
Her mother, Kasmah
Ammash, a frail 70-year-old, said: My daughter was diagnosed with
breast cancer in the late 80s. She went to Pittsburgh for chemotherapy
and underwent a mastectomy. Before she was arrested she was undergoing
further follow-up treatment. How can they be so cruel?
AI said it urged
the coalition forces to look into allegations and to convict those found
guilty of offenses.
The Americans
have acknowledged there are some serious problems, said Goering.
But there is a difference of opinion on what laws apply.
Nada Doumani, the
International Red Cross spokesman in Baghdad, said: We never comment
on the conditions at the detention centers.
Doumani added: The
Geneva Convention is clear about the obligations that exist for legal
advice and visits. If someone is being held as a POW, then there is
a legal obligation to allow him or her access to legal advice. But if
they are held as a civilian, that does not apply. A tribunal has been
set up to decide which category each person in the camp fits into. Until
their work is complete, we can say no more.