Prison Won't End Abuse

Prison Won't End Abuse



Iraq's announcement on March 14, 2011, that it will close the Camp Honor detention center after a parliamentary committee uncovered torture there is a positive move but only a first step, Human Rights Watch said today. A pressing need remains for an independent investigation into who was responsible for the abuse there, Human Rights Watch said.


Iraqi officials should establish an independent body with authority to impartially investigate the torture that occurred at Camp Honor and other sites run by the 56th Brigade, also known as the "Baghdad Brigade," and the Counterterrorism Service - the elite security forces attached to the military office of the prime minister. The investigating body should recommend disciplinary steps or criminal prosecution of everyone of any rank implicated in the abuse, Human Rights Watch said.


"Shutting down Camp Honor will mean little if detainees are shuffled to other facilities to face torture again," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "There needs to be a genuine, independent investigation and criminal prosecution of everyone, regardless of rank, responsible for the horrific abuses there."


The Justice Ministry announced on March 14 that it would close Camp Honor after members of a parliamentary investigative committee, consisting largely of parliament's Human Rights Committee members, found evidence of torture during a spot inspection of the facility five days earlier. Investigative committee members told Human Rights Watch that they had observed 175 prisoners in "horrible conditions" at the prison, in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone. They said they saw physical "signs of recent abuse, including electric shocks" and marks on detainees' bodies, including long scars across their backs.


Detainees described to committee members the torture they endured there and said that more than 40 other detainees had been hastily moved from the facility less than an hour before members of the committee arrived.


Iraq's Minister of Justice Hussein al-Shammari told Human Rights Watch on March 29 that all of Camp Honor's detainees - between 150 and 160 - had been moved to three other facilities under the control of his ministry. According to the parliamentary committee, however, the number of detainees held at Camp Honor was higher. The committee, established by parliament on February 8 after a Human Rights Watch report and a Los Angeles Times article documented the abuse of detainees at Camp Honor, said it had officially requested from prison authorities a list of all the detainees' names, but had received no information as of March 29.


In response to repeated allegations of serious abuse at Iraqi detention facilities, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki issued a statement on March 19 reiterating that "there are no secret detention centers, and all prisons and detention centers are open to regulatory authorities and judicial authorities, which must report any violations found, if any, and notify judicial authorities to take legal action against the perpetrators."


Read more »
Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz

Reactions:

0 comments Links to this post







if (window['tickAboveFold']) {window['tickAboveFold'](document.getElementById("latency-2920431526464892625")); }

Iraq: power shortages continue




From one moment to the next, Sami al-Dulaimi’s life changed from joy to sorrow.His family was celebrating the 7th birthday of their youngest child, Uthman, at their house in Hay al-Taameem, in Ramadi city, when they heard their father screaming.He had gone to the garden to add fuel to his electricity generator, while it was still on. In seconds, he was engulfed in flames, and died from his burns.


This incident is not uncommon in Anbar. Several people have died in similar circumstances.Members of the deceased’s family were among the protesters in Ramadi recently calling on the local government to improve the service sector and, in particular, the electricity supply.


Thaer al-Dulaimi, the younger brother of the deceased, said that his neighbourhood has up to 22 hours of power cuts a day. "This does not only happen in the city centre but in all districts, neighbourhoods and villages," he added.Most people use generators; the large ones are owned by local investors. They provide people with electricity, but the price is high.


Dulaimi works as a truck driver and earns less than US $600 per month. He pays 12,000 Iraqi dinars (about US $9) for 12 hours of electricity supply per day. The amount is doubled when the supply is for 24 hours a day.The owners of the generators say that the prices are high because they cannot rely on receiving subsidized fuel from the state and are forced to buy fuel from the black market.


Ahmad Mansour owns ones of these generators Taameem neighbourhood. He receives 15 litres of subsidized fuel per 1 kilo-watt."That is not enough for half a month’s supply of electricity, so we buy fuel from the market and increase the supply prices," he says.The local government in Anbar blames the Electricity Ministry for the shortage in supply.


Khalil Ibrahim is an engineer and the director general of Ramadi’s electricity department: "Anbar is supposed to receive 800 megawatt every year. But we only get 170-180. This quantity is not enough to repair the networks and doesn’t cover the city’s needs. Al-Anbar has been treated unfairly!"


Qasem Abed, Anbar’s governor, told Anbar’s official channel that the Electricity Ministry was not co-operating and was not seriously committed towards its obligations.Anbar’s quota of 800 megawatts was allocated when the economy was paralyzed and when most of province’s areas were controlled by al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq Organisation, he said.



Read more »
Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz

Reactions:

0 comments Links to this post







if (window['tickAboveFold']) {window['tickAboveFold'](document.getElementById("latency-5286143558608829597")); }

Dean of Medical College killed



The dean of Baghdad University’s Medical College was silenced by an explosive device attached to his car.Medical Professor Mohammed Al-Alwan was a top Iraqi surgeon and his murder sends a signal that Iraqi intellectuals are still in danger of either being assassinated or kidnapped.


Killings of senior officials, and particularly army and security officers have surged in Baghdad and other major cities.Attacks, mainly carried out by silencer guns, have had army officers and security officials as their target.But the killing of Professor Alwan is reminiscent of attacks targeting university professors in the past few years.


Thousands of Iraqi university professors and scientists have fled the country, fearing for their lives.The recent relative quiet had persuaded some of them to return home.But the murder of Professor Alwan would make those still in exile think twice before deciding on a return journey home.


Azzaman


Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz

Reactions:

0 comments Links to this post







if (window['tickAboveFold']) {window['tickAboveFold'](document.getElementById("latency-4233012241032122178")); }

Another deadly threat in Iraq



As if U.S. troops serving in Iraq didn’t face enough risk to life and limb already, these servicemen and women are putting their long-term health at risk because the air in Iraq is so polluted.


A study begun in 2008 is finding that much of the air pollution in Iraq is of the most insidious sort – the very small dust particles that can make their way deep into the lungs and stay there. The study’s preliminary findings were presented late Wednesday at the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Anaheim.


Bigger specks of dust – the ones we can actually see – get trapped by cilia, tiny hairs in the nose and respiratory tract. But, says study team member Jennifer Bell, a graduate student in atmospheric chemistry at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, much of the fine particulate matter in Iraqi air is small enough to slip past.


“When we take a breath, they travel into the deepest part of the lung where oxygen exchange takes place,” Bell explained in a news release from the American Chemical Society.


Measurements show that the concentration of fine dust particles in Iraqi air often exceeds the levels deemed safe by the U.S. National Ambient Air Quality Standards; in some cases they were almost 10 times higher. The amount of lead in the dust is also higher than what U.S. air quality standards allow.



Read more »