Prisoner abuse and torture in Iraq

  • Soldiers' accounts of detainee abuse in Iraq (July 2006)

    Based on first-hand accounts, this report finds evidence "that detainee abuse was an established and apparently authorized part of the detention and interrogation processes in Iraq for much of 2003-2005".

    The report focusses on abuse of detainees in three places: Mosul Airport, 'Forward Operating Base Tiger' on the Syrian border, and under a task force based first at Camp Nema near Baghdad, then near to Balad.

  • US State Department "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices" (Iraq) (08 March 2006)

    Report by the US State Department and part of a set of reports on human rights in countries receiving US aid.

    While the report contains details of pre-trial detention, prisoner abuse, and torture, there is no mention of abuse by US (or other foreign) troops in the report.

    "A climate of extreme violence in which people were killed for political and other reasons continued. Reports increased of killings by the government or its agents that may have been politically motivated. Additionally, common criminals, insurgents, and terrorists undermined public confidence in the security apparatus by sometimes masking their identity in police and army uniforms"

    "Members of sectarian militias dominated police units to varying degrees and in different parts of the country ... During the year there were a number of deaths either at police hands or at the hands of militia members and criminals wearing police uniforms."

    "Insurgents and terrorists killed thousands of citizens ... Using intimidation and violence, they kidnapped and killed government officials and workers, common citizens, party activists participating in the electoral process, civil society activists, members of security forces, and members of the armed forces, as well as foreigners. "

    "Criminal and politically motivated disappearances and kidnappings, including those related to the ongoing insurgency, remained a severe problem ... During the year hundreds, if not thousands, of individuals disappeared without a trace, sometimes at the hands of the police. "

    "On November 13, an overcrowded MOI detention center in Baghdad was discovered. This facility, the Jadiriyah Bunker, held 169 detainees, mostly Sunnis, many of whom showed signs of torture and abuse."

    "Police abuses included threats, intimidation, beatings, and suspension by the arms or legs, as well as the reported use of electric drills and cords, and the application of electric shocks. Reportedly, police threatened or, in fact, sexually abused detainees. "

    Iraqi officials were critical of the report.

  • AI: Beyond Abu Ghraib: detention and torture in Iraq (06 March 2006)

    Recent extensive report on detention and torture in Iraq, which focusses specifically on Amnesty's "concerns about human rights abuses for which the US-led MNF is directly responsible and those which are increasingly being committed by Iraqi security forces". See also Amnesty Press Release. Includes the call to governments supplying forces to the MNF, expecially the UK and the US, to "end indefinite internment of persons in Iraq", and the call to governments supplying forces to the MNF and to the Iraqi Authorities to "provide unhindered access to all places of detention, their installations and facilities, and detainees by relevant international organizations and bodies, including the UN Special Rapporteur on torture, and by Iraqi human rights organizations".

    See also BBC News report

  • American Civil Liberties Union: 'Soldiers Not Held Accountable for Abuse' (24 Jan 2005)

    "Government investigations into allegations of torture and abuse have been woefully inadequate," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "Some of the investigations have basically whitewashed the torture and abuse. The documents that the ACLU has obtained tell a damning story of widespread torture reaching well beyond the walls of Abu Ghraib."

  • American Civil Liberties Union: 'Task Force Threatened Agents Who Saw Detainee Abuse in Iraq' (07 Dec 2004)

    'Documents released today by the American Civil Liberties Union reveal that a special operations task force in Iraq sought to silence Defense Intelligence Agency personnel who observed abusive interrogations and that the Department of Defense adopted questionable interrogation techniques at Guantanamo over FBI objections.'

    The documents are posted at www.aclu.org/torturefoia.

  • Taguba report (04 Apr 2004)

    Report of a US army investigation into abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, compiled by Antonio Taguba. Taguba found strong evidence for "sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses" of inmates. Widely covered by the media, notably by Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker. Also available in pdf format

  • Amnesty International 'Iraq Crisis' homepage

    Reports on torture and abuse of prisoners include 'AI reveals a pattern of torture and ill-treatment' and 'Pattern of brutality and cruelty - war crimes at Abu Ghraib' (7 May 2004).

  • Amnesty International 'Stop Torture' campaign
  • Christian Peacemaker Teams: Adopt-a-Detainee Campaign

    The Christian Peacemaker Teams - one of the very few groups of internationals still maintaining a presence inside Iraq - have been running an Adopt a Detainee Campaign since Feb. 2004, pairing union, church, peace and anti-war groups around the world with individual detainees and getting them to write letters on behalf of their "adopted" detainee.

    • Human Rights Watch 'US Torture and Abuse of Detainees' section
    • News reports