There are no Secret Prisons in Iraq - Part 2. + UPDATES

This is a rushed continuation of my previous post.

This post is regularly UPDATED. The updates are incorporated into the main text. 

Just been watching several programs on the "secret" prisons in Iraq which are no longer secret...

Al -Jazeera Arabic today gave more watered down pictures of the torture...still horrific but nothing compared to yesterday's nor to the real graphic images I saw on another satellite TV - Al Rafidain.

Again Al-Jazeera English Website uploaded that same short film from the Arabic Al-Jazeera with a LOUSY and INCOMPLETE translation into English, OMITTING to mention the RAPE and other forms of GROTESQUE  TORTURE of the detainees and only showing detainees with "alleged" cigarette burns. SHAME ON YOU Al-Jazeera for your watered down version of the events. How low will you stoop to please Iran and its sectarian savages ?!

Al-Jazeera interviewed one of Maliki's aide and he said this story of the secret prison in al Muthana/ Baghdad is all fabrication - hahahahaha. They also interviewed the Governor of Mosul , Al-Nujaifi who stated that he has been pressing Maliki's government for information regarding 430 persons missing (all in secret detention) for over 6 months....with no reply from Maliki.  He also confirmed that there is ANOTHER secret prison in Mosul...

One survivor testified hiding his face on al Jazeera he said : " they would torture one man in front of his brother, to extract information, or one father in front of his son and vice versa. We saw the most horrendous forms of torture..." The guy was too scared to give all the details.

But this is nothing - wait till you hear the LIVE testimonies on Al-Rafidain by some of the released detainees and families of the missing.

This is a rushed transcript so I will give you bullet points

- out of the 430 reported missing i.e secretly detained, only 47 were released.

- all said they were forced under duress -- to sign documents claiming responsibility for acts they never committed.

-130 or so are still in Al- Muthana secret prison and the rest have been transferred to another prison near Baghdad's stadium Al-Ma'lab prison.

- all of those detained in the Nineveh province were picked from their homes during night raids, no charges have been pressed against them. You would undoubtedly agree that a "terrorist" or an "insurgent" would not be sitting or sleeping in his home with family.

- there were driven in the back of trucks "like animals" for a 13 hour ride. The minute they arrived to Baghdad's secret prison - one of Baghdad's secret prison, the torture they endured was so horrific that one said he wished for death any minute. One identifying himself by the name of Abu Ahmed, said that they were subjected to not only disgraceful appalling prison conditions but the amount of torture he underwent and witnessed was unprecedented. He spoke of daily rapes, and named the man who died under torture in January 2010  - His name was Riyadh.

- another caller confirmed that there is another secret prison in Tikrit where members of his family have disappeared. He tried getting information through the government authorities to no avail.

- another called and gave the FULL names of his torturers and their military grades as well their regiment division. The name of one torturer I recall is AbdelNuman - he is a member of Maliki's forces and also a member of the DAWA party , his aide is a Kurdish guy by the name of Kirwan. Again, more gory details of how this man was tortured by these two guys

- another gives more information - there are 3 secret prisons in Mosul in the following locations - two of which I remember. a) Al- Kindi  b) and another one in the ex-palace of Saddam's Hussein and there is another one in Tel Afar.

- there are an additional 5 secret prisons in Baghdad. I will try to get the exact locations and publish them on my blog as well as other information like names...

- another caller gave also more names of his torturers and their grades. And one preferred method for this particular torturer in charge of this division, and who is also a member of Maliki's special forces was the use of a "hamburger grill" which he would heat up to the maximum and force the detainees to sit on.

- another detainee said he witnessed 4 men dying under torture over and above the one guy reported dead in January 2010

- pictures of the most grotesque signs of torture  were shown. Impossible to describe without actually getting hold of the film.

- 20 detainees  are reported to have been paralyzed from the torture

- latest figure quoted is 700 detainees in Muthana prison and not 430 as previously quoted by media  - to be confirmed.

- Al Babeliya TV also ran some live pictures - one detainee had all the skin on his body burned. 

- Al-Sharqiya TV also ran some live pictures - one detainee looked like a survivor from the Nazi gas chambers, he was totally paralyzed.

Yalla, Welcome to Freedom and Democracy of the new Iraq --american, iranian style.

Meanwhile for those who live in the UK, be informed that a vigil will take place in London.

I am copying the full text for you


Join the Vigil Outside the Iraqi Embassy
Wednesday 28 April 2010, 11.30-12.30 p.m.
Embassy of the Republic of Iraq, 3 Elvaston Place, London SW7 5QH
Please Join Us

We are appalled and sickened by Nouri Al Maliki’s approval of a number of secret prisons throughout Iraq including the recently exposed Old Muthanna airport prison run by troops under his office's direct command.
One prisoner at Old Muthanna prison reported that he had been “raped on a daily basis, another said that his undergarments, which were entirely bloodstained,"
Some described guards extorting as much as $1,000 from prisoners who wanted to phone their families, the memo said.

According to Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, the current Iraqi judiciary is dysfunctional and incapable of delivering fair trials.

We call for the immediate release of all prisoners held without charge or trial whether by the occupiers or by the Iraqi government. We call for an unfettered access for Iraqi human rights lawyers and international human rights organisations to all Iraqi jails and an immediate setup of an independent public inquiry into human rights abuses in detention and into disappearances after arrests.

We call on all international and human rights bodies to speak out and to end the torture of Iraqi detainees and the detention of innocent human beings.

Malak Hamdan
On behalf of:
All Iraqi Prisoners and Detainees and Their Families Who Have Suffered.
Women Solidarity for an Independent and Unified Iraq
Iraqi Rabita
The National Iraqi Group

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