Witness: Secret Iraq prison for women and children

By Jane Arraf & Mohammed al-Dulaimy,
REMEMBER WE ALL CARRY RESPONSIBILTY FOR THIS! cjw


Iraq's Muthanna Army base has women and children in a secret prison, says an Iraqi eyewitness. He says some are family members of Al Qaeda suspect and are used to extract confessions.

May 26, 2010

BAGHDAD

There aren't supposed to be any prisons at the Muthanna Iraqi Army base, let alone ones with children in them.

But a member of the Iraqi security services says that as late as mid-May, he saw children playing in a makeshift detention center here.

"I just wish they would take the children out," he says, recalling the cries of an infant and a 3-year-old named Tiba. "I can't even tell my own wife and children what I do."

The Muthanna facility appears to be operating weeks after a separate undisclosed prison on the base, where more than 400 suspects were held and dozens tortured, was closed.

The witness, who is known to be credible, says he risked speaking to a Western publication because he and some colleagues were sickened by seeing women and children detained. He insisted on anonymity.

"To reach the point of detaining women and their children is unacceptable. A woman's honor is Iraqi honor," he says.

He says at least six women and at least eight children were being held, including the wives of two suspected Al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders, Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayub al-Masri. The two women were detained with their children when their husbands were killed in an April air strike.

A Defense Ministry spokesman at the time confirmed that children had been rounded up. Children under the age of 3 are allowed to remain in detention facilities if their mothers have been arrested.

'Bring in his wife'

In some cases, the women were being interrogated as possible suspects, but in others they were being used to try to extract confessions from their husbands. Using threats against women to elicit confessions from male relatives is a practice well-documented by rights groups.

"Four days ago when one of the men wouldn't confess they said, 'Bring in his wife.' They put her in a separate room nearby and beat her so he could hear her screaming," says the witness. "They went back to the man and said, 'We will rape her if you don't confess.' "

The makeshift detention unit is said to be attached to the 54th brigade of the Sixth Iraqi Army Division – a unit that has taken the lead in counterinsurgency operations in Baghdad and increasingly throughout the country. The interrogators from the brigade's intelligence unit said to be threatening the women bypassed the Baghdad Operations Command's central investigations commission to conduct their own interrogations. The Ministry of Defense, its human rights directorate, and the Ministry of Justice declined requests for comment.

The man says he and his colleagues had never seen an international rights group visit the detention center. The one time a Human Rights Ministry employee visited the brigade prison and asked about a missing prisoner, she was asked to leave, he says.

The ministry last month suspended its prison investigations after the political fallout from its revelation of the undeclared detention centers at Muthanna, according to political sources. A spokesman declined an interview, saying they were no longer allowed to talk.

The witness said although the Iraqi Army unit has a joint operations center with US forces, the Iraqis make sure the Americans don't see the torture.

He said that on four occasions he had seen suspects tortured by being hung by handcuffs fixed to an iron bar and administered electric shocks through a black hood connected to wires. The last time was in late April. "When I see all this torture I say to myself, 'What is the difference from Saddam?' If I were under this torture, I would confess to anything just to make it stop."









:: Article nr. 66372 sent on 27-may-2010 02:51 ECT


www.uruknet.info?p=66372

Link: www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2010/0526/Witness-Secret-Iraq-p...
en-and-children

http://uruknet.com/?p=m66372&hd=&size=1&l=e

Views: 41

Comment

You need to be a member of 12160 Social Network to add comments!

Join 12160 Social Network

"Destroying the New World Order"

TOP CONTENT THIS WEEK

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE SITE!

mobile page

12160.info/m

12160 Administrators

 

Latest Activity

Sandy posted a photo
6 hours ago
Doc Vega posted a blog post
16 hours ago
Saint Quinn favorited Burbia's video
yesterday
Doc Vega posted blog posts
yesterday
Burbia commented on tjdavis's blog post The Jewish Couple That Taught Bob Dylan Hebrew and Introduced Him to Zionism
"Haaretz put this story behind a pay wall. Sali Ariel and Terry Noble were the names of the couple…"
Wednesday
William Heckman is now a member of 12160 Social Network
Wednesday
cheeki kea commented on tjdavis's photo
Wednesday
cheeki kea commented on cheeki kea's video
Thumbnail

This Woman DESTROYED Harley-Davidson's Future Forever

"It's a sad day on the highway. But I guess the show must go on. Watch out for the ruination of…"
Wednesday
cheeki kea posted a video

This Woman DESTROYED Harley-Davidson's Future Forever

This Woman DESTROYED Harley-Davidson's Future ForeverWelcome to Ride Radar – Your Frontline Source for Motorcycle Deals, Trends & Market Mayhem.Looking for t...
Wednesday
tjdavis posted a photo
Wednesday
Burbia posted a status
"Who knew releasing the MLK files and literally deflecting, it ends up implicating himself with the Epstein Files."
Tuesday
Burbia posted a video

Dan Bilzerian DEMOLISHES MAGA Nutjob Patrick Bet-David on His Own Show

Watch as two powerhouse personalities collide in this no-holds-barred debate on one of the world’s most contentious issues. Patrick Bet-David, known for his ...
Monday
Doc Vega's 7 blog posts were featured
Sunday
tjdavis's 2 blog posts were featured
Sunday
Less Prone favorited tjdavis's blog post Track AIPAC
Sunday
FREEDOMROX's blog post was featured

MRNA VACCINES: Question

Hello my fellow sojourners,I know it has been five years since the Plandemic, but one question has…See More
Sunday
Less Prone favorited FREEDOMROX's blog post MRNA VACCINES: Question
Sunday
cheeki kea commented on cheeki kea's photo
Jul 19
cheeki kea posted a photo
Jul 19
Doc Vega posted blog posts
Jul 18

© 2025   Created by truth.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service

content and site copyright 12160.info 2007-2019 - all rights reserved. unless otherwise noted