Abuse,
Torture And Rape Reported
At Unlisted U.S.-Run Prisons In Iraq
By Lisa Ashkenaz
Croke
24 September, 2004
The New Standard
American
legal investigators have discovered evidence of abuse, torture and rape
throughout the US-run prison system in Iraq. A Michigan legal team meeting
with former detainees in Baghdad during an August fact-finding mission
gathered evidence supporting claims of prisoner abuse at some 25 US-run
detention centers, most of them so far not publicly mentioned as being
embroiled in the Iraq torture scandal.
"That list
was something that we came back with -- we only knew of three prisons
going there," investigator Mohammed Alomari told The NewStandard,
referring to the few detention centers in Iraq where concerns over treatment
of prisoners have already been raised publicly.
The list includes
some actual prisons, such as Al-Salihiya Prison in Baghdad, the notorious
prison in Abu Ghraib, and a prison at Camp Bucca, a Coalition-built
POW camp in the southern port city of Um-Qasr. Other detention centers
have been established at military bases, such as the US Military compound
at Al-Dhiloeia, north of Baghdad; a US base outside Fallujah; and the
Hilla military compound, a joint US-Polish base where Alomari said he
has recently been informed of allegations against US and Polish personnel.
"Nobody talks
about it. All everyone talks about is Abu Ghraib because of the pictures,"
said Alomari. "But in these other places, theres tons of
acts of torture, abuse, rape."
During an interview
with Alomari and attorney Shereef Akeel, TNS reviewed documentation
the men accumulated covering 53 separate cases of former detainees alleging
gross mistreatment at the US-run prisons in Iraq. All of the witnesses
have been vetted, said Akeel, their presence at various detention centers
corroborated by official, US military-issued paperwork and identification
information.
Some of the plaintiffs
allege US captors committed severe abuses against them as recently as
this summer, challenging the widely-held assumption that the military
has put an end to the violations.
A steady stream
of reports from a contact in Iraq has kept new cases crossing Akeels
desk almost daily since the team returned from Iraq over a month ago.
Cases raised since the teams return stateside will be verified
and investigated in the future.
Akeel says he learned
of the horrible conditions and practices at Abu Ghraib almost a month
before the rest of the American public, when a man he calls "Saleh"
came into his Huntington Woods, Michigan office with an ID bracelet
from Abu Ghraib and a horrific story of his rape and abuse at the infamous
US-run prison.
"I said, Abu
what?" recalled Akeel. "I didnt even know about
Abu Ghraib. I couldnt believe it. I mean, I didnt -- it
was so outlandish.
"Then the pictures
came out," Akeel said.
While many of the
detention centers where Akeels clients say abuses took place were
established under Saddam Hussein, most appear to be facilities put to
use as prisons during the US-led occupation.
A group called the
Committee for the Release of Hostages and Detainees in Iraq (CROHDI),
a Saddam-era human rights group based in Scotland, counted over 50 known
prisons and detention centers in Iraq. CROHDIs list includes the
airport near the Al-Habbaniya Resort Island and various places now used
as military bases where the American investigative team uncovered cases
of prisoner abuse last month.
Shortly after the
invasion in 2003, the US Army established Camp Cropper, a massive, mostly
outdoor facility located at Baghdad International Airport. Camp Cropper
was mentioned in a Red Cross report leaked to the press last spring
and received some press attention after the US military banned Amnesty
International from visiting prisoners there last summer.
During their trip,
the American investigators heard accounts of abuse from former Camp
Cropper and Abu Ghraib detainees, but also from released inmates held
at another airport camp in Baqouba, an hour Northeast of Baghdad.
Since returning,
Alomari says that they have learned of prison abuse at the airport at
Al-Habbaniya Resort Island located an hour west of the city, and at
an airport camp in the Northern city of Mosul.
The majority of
detention centers where former inmates allege American soldiers and
contractors committed acts of abuse were found in and around Baghdad,
most of them buildings that had been converted into prisons. Students
living at Mustansiriya University Student Housing were "kicked
out," said Alomari, and US troops reportedly turned the dorms into
a detention center. Other such facilities were reported on the grounds
of the Akai Pharmaceutical Company Compound, the Palace of Conferences
located across from the Al-Rasheed hotel, the Scania transportation
depot and the Al-Sijood Palace in Baghdad.
Tikrit is the only
other city listed with multiple prisons where former inmates have so
far reported abuses to the American investigators. First enclosed with
barbed wire at the end of the war, Tikrits neighboring villages
were similarly imprisoned in the weeks leading up to Husseins
capture, when residents say they woke one morning to find that the US
military had enveloped their villages in barbed wire and set up checkpoints
during the night.
Detention centers
in Tikrit reportedly include one of Saddam Husseins Presidential
Palaces, Uday Husseins former horse stables, and the US-confiscated
Tikrit Elementary School. All of these appear to be newly established
prisons, as none appear on CRODHIs list of known centers of incarceration.
As the vice president
and media director for the non-profit Focus on American & Arab Interests
& Relations (FAAIR), Alomari had been traveling in and out of Iraq
since December, giving seminars on American democracy to Iraqs
academic and political leaders. "I came back about mid-June and
about a week later Shereef [Akeel] called me," said Alomari. "He
told me he wanted to go to Iraq; he wanted to investigate these cases."
Akeel had teamed
up with attorneys in Philadelphia and New York to work with the Center
for Constitutional Rights in bringing a lawsuit against private security
firms Titan Corp and CACI International. The class action suit accuses
the US firms of violating the Alien Tort Claims Act and the Racketeer
Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) by engaging in illegal abuse
and torture of detainees with the goal of securing lucrative government
contracts.
In fact, despite
a recent military report recommending criminal charges be filed against
at least two Titan employees contracted as translators at Abu Ghraib
prison, the US Army has awarded a six month "bridging contract"
to the San Diego-based security firm to continue providing translators
and interpreters after its current contract ends this month. The Associated
Press reports that the new contract could bring Titan as much as $400
million.
Both Titan and CACI
have repeatedly denied allegations that their personnel have been involved
in any illegal activity or wrongdoing. They have said the lawsuit against
them is unfounded and have stood by specific employees accused of
Akeel says the discovery of gross mistreatment at over two dozen prisons
controlled by the US military is "another piece of the puzzle,"
and could strengthen the legal teams case. Pieces have been put
into place with the declassified sections of three military reports
investigating prison abuse in Iraq. Though the findings have been limited
to activities at Abu Ghraib, Akeel says they still provide evidence
of private contractors at both firms engaging in crimes against former
detainees.
The legal teams
next move is to fit former detainees descriptions of assailants
and prison release papers with names and photographs of Titan and CACI
employees contracted to the prisons. It is not yet known if Titan or
CACI workers were contracted to the majority of the prisons where detainees
allege abuse took place.
© 2004 The NewStandard.