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----- Original Message ----- From: "Ghazwan Al-Mukhtar" <ghazwan_almukhtar@hotmail.com> To: "AS-ILAS" <AS-ILAS@gmx.de> Sent: Friday, August 15, 2003 9:27 AM Subject: Re: [casi] AMERICA’S GULAG FOR IRAQ’S VIP PRISONERS > We Iraqis could say that we did not know about the crimes committed by > Saddam Hussein and that we could not do any thing about it because he was a > dictator and the world would believe us. Could the people of “west” say the > same thing about your “elected” governments, with your free press, free > media coverage… etc. or are the people in the “west” so indifferent! Those > crimes are done in YOUR names you like it or not! > > > > Ghazwan Al-Mukhtar > > Baghdad, Occupied Iraq > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "AS-ILAS" <AS-ILAS@gmx.de> > To: "casi" <casi-discuss@lists.casi.org.uk> > Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2003 2:26 PM > Subject: [casi] AMERICA’S GULAG FOR IRAQ’S VIP PRISONERS > > > www.globe-intel.net > > AMERICA’S GULAG FOR IRAQ’S VIP PRISONERS > > by > Gordon Thomas > > > Each prisoner receives six pints of dank, tepid water a day. He uses it to > wash and drink in summer noonday temperatures of 50 degrees Celsius. > > 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 America’s shameful Gulag – Camp Cropper on the > outskirts of Baghdad International Airport. > Only the International Red Cross are allowed inside. They are forbidden to > describe what they see. > > But some of its staff have broken ranks – to tell Amnesty International of > the shocking conditions the 3000 Iraqi prisoners are held under. > None had been charged with any offence. 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 ten-foot high razor wire, they live in tents that are little > protection against the blistering sun. They sleep eighty 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 over-powering stench in this hell-hole 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 Amnesty International, the > London-based human rights watchdog. > He confirmed that Amnesty had received “credible reports” of detainees which > 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 > Saddam’s second in command on the Revolutionary Command Council. > The one woman “special” is Huda Ammash – known as “Chemical Sally”, because > a key member of Saddam’s chemical and biological weapons programme. > > The week before he committed suicide, Dr David Kelly, the English scientist, > had prepared a list of 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 Ba’ath > party. Like the men they are not allowed to wash their underwear – and > several have developed unsightly sores, according to a Red Cross visitor. > > After two months incarceration none of the “special prisoners” have been > told what charges they will face – though several, like Tariq Aziz, then had > surrendered voluntarily to the Americans. > A glimpse of his life nowadays 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. This may 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 > else – an 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”. > > Jassim was arrested the day after the war officially ended. He insists, > according to a Red Cross official, 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 kill anyone”, > Jassim insisted. > > Amnesty’s human rights workers and Red Cross officials have gathered > statements from the few prisoners who have been released. > One is Qays al Salman, a 54-year-old guard at one of Saddam’s palaces. He > claims: “One day we became so angry that all the man in my tent began > shouting, ‘Freedom, freedom!’ The soldiers rushed in, tied us up and forced > us to lie down in the middle of the day in the open. Some of us had bad sun > stroke. > > Other detainees, like Suheil Laibbi Mohammed, who used to work as a > mechanic, repairing Saddam’s fleet of cars, said he had seen prisoners > repeatedly hit with riffle butts”. > Detainees described being given food as inedible to Muslims. Most of the > meat was pork. “But it was either eat it or starve”, said Rafed Adel Mehdi. > > Tariq Aziz’s 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 Britain’s embattled Defence 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. I know > the conditions he is being held under from those who have been released. It > is outrageous what is happening”, he said. > > Chemical Sally’s family are also planning legal moves to have her freed. > They have submitted evidence to the Americans that she has breast cancer and > requires to continue with her medical treatment. > Her mother, Kasmah Ammash, a frail 70-year-old said: “My daughter was > diagnosed with breast cancer in the late Eighties. 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”. > > Amnesty International said it had urged the coalition forces to look into > such allegations – and to bring to justice those found guilty of offences. > “The Americans have acknowledged there are some serious problems. But there > is a difference of opinion on what laws apply”, said Mr Goering. > > Nada Doumani, the International Red Cross spokesman in Baghdad said “we > never comment on the conditions at the detention centers”. > “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 them access to legal advice. But if they are held as a > civilian detainee 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”. > A spokesman for Lt-General Ricardo Sanchez, the coalition forces commander > in Iraq, said he could not give a time frame when the tribunal’s work will > be completed. > > ends > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. > To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss > To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk > All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk > _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk