Seshmeister
09-10-2006, 08:14 PM
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/abu-ghraib-horrors-reemerge/2006/09/10/1157826813724.html
THE notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad is at the centre of fresh abuse allegations just a week after it was handed over to Iraqi authorities.
Claims that inmates are being tortured by their new captors have emerged.
Staff at the jail say the Iraqi authorities have moved dozens of terrorist suspects into Abu Ghraib from the controversial Interior Ministry detention centre in Jadriyah, where US troops last year discovered 169 prisoners who had been tortured and starved.
Prisoners released from the jail last week spoke of routine torture of terrorism suspects. On Wednesday, 27 prisoners were hanged in the first mass execution since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime.
Conditions in the rest of the jail were grim, with an overwhelming stench of excrement, prisoners crammed into cells for all but 20 minutes a day, food rations cut to just rice and water, and no air-conditioning.
Some of the small number of prisoners who remained in the jail after the Americans left said they had pleaded to go with their departing captors, rather than be left in the hands of Iraqi guards.
"The Americans were better than the Iraqis — they treated us better," said Khalid Alaani, who was held on suspicion of involvement in Sunni terrorism.
Abu Ghraib became synonymous with abuse after pictures were published in 2004 showing prisoners being tortured and humiliated.
Prisoners interviewed in the presence of their jailers said they were frightened for their safety.
They complained that chicken and milk had been cut from their rations, leaving them on rice and water.
They also complained about the oppressive heat.
Outside the prison, relatives of some of the inmates said they were being tortured by their captors.
Haleem Aleulami, who was released from the jail last week, three weeks after being arrested in Ramadi for carrying a pistol in his car, said the Americans had treated him better when they ran the jail.
He claimed that visits from the International Red Cross staff had dried up and accused local human rights workers of being members of Shiite groups who turned a blind eye to problems in the jail.
"The people are Iraqis and they are members of the Sciri and al-Dawa parties," he said.
"They have a good relationship with the leaders of the jail, and they keep quiet."
The guards swore at the ordinary prisoners, he said, but those in the terrorist section were treated more brutally.
"The guards were swearing at us, but in the terrorist section they were beating them.
"I heard it all the time. Everyone knows what is happening."
Khalid Alaani, who was also picked up in Ramadi on suspicion of involvement in Sunni terrorism, said: "We preferred the Americans. We asked to move with them to Baghdad airport because we knew the treatment would be changed because we know what the Iraqis are.
"When the Americans left, everything changed."
One officer, Captain Ali Abdelzaher, said: "We have a problem with the financing for the food, not like the Americans, and there is a technical problem with the air-conditioning."
Yesterday, the International Red Cross confirmed that its visits to the prison had been suspended since January last year on security grounds.
THE notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad is at the centre of fresh abuse allegations just a week after it was handed over to Iraqi authorities.
Claims that inmates are being tortured by their new captors have emerged.
Staff at the jail say the Iraqi authorities have moved dozens of terrorist suspects into Abu Ghraib from the controversial Interior Ministry detention centre in Jadriyah, where US troops last year discovered 169 prisoners who had been tortured and starved.
Prisoners released from the jail last week spoke of routine torture of terrorism suspects. On Wednesday, 27 prisoners were hanged in the first mass execution since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime.
Conditions in the rest of the jail were grim, with an overwhelming stench of excrement, prisoners crammed into cells for all but 20 minutes a day, food rations cut to just rice and water, and no air-conditioning.
Some of the small number of prisoners who remained in the jail after the Americans left said they had pleaded to go with their departing captors, rather than be left in the hands of Iraqi guards.
"The Americans were better than the Iraqis — they treated us better," said Khalid Alaani, who was held on suspicion of involvement in Sunni terrorism.
Abu Ghraib became synonymous with abuse after pictures were published in 2004 showing prisoners being tortured and humiliated.
Prisoners interviewed in the presence of their jailers said they were frightened for their safety.
They complained that chicken and milk had been cut from their rations, leaving them on rice and water.
They also complained about the oppressive heat.
Outside the prison, relatives of some of the inmates said they were being tortured by their captors.
Haleem Aleulami, who was released from the jail last week, three weeks after being arrested in Ramadi for carrying a pistol in his car, said the Americans had treated him better when they ran the jail.
He claimed that visits from the International Red Cross staff had dried up and accused local human rights workers of being members of Shiite groups who turned a blind eye to problems in the jail.
"The people are Iraqis and they are members of the Sciri and al-Dawa parties," he said.
"They have a good relationship with the leaders of the jail, and they keep quiet."
The guards swore at the ordinary prisoners, he said, but those in the terrorist section were treated more brutally.
"The guards were swearing at us, but in the terrorist section they were beating them.
"I heard it all the time. Everyone knows what is happening."
Khalid Alaani, who was also picked up in Ramadi on suspicion of involvement in Sunni terrorism, said: "We preferred the Americans. We asked to move with them to Baghdad airport because we knew the treatment would be changed because we know what the Iraqis are.
"When the Americans left, everything changed."
One officer, Captain Ali Abdelzaher, said: "We have a problem with the financing for the food, not like the Americans, and there is a technical problem with the air-conditioning."
Yesterday, the International Red Cross confirmed that its visits to the prison had been suspended since January last year on security grounds.