Testimonies of Iraqi Prisoners In the American Prisons

 Bassim Suggested Finger Prints

On July 16, 2003, at 10.30 am, Bassim Dawood Darob , left his house in Tadgi , near an American military base north of Baghdad , to go to work in the village market, when he saw an American convoy. He was not afraid or even worried. He kept on walking until he reached them, they asked him to lift his shirt, turn around, and put his hands up. He did. They searched his body even his foot fingers. Then they told him to sit down. Three cars passed by, they searched and let them go. Then they cuffed his hands and put him in their vehicle. When he asked why, a soldier told him to ask the officer. The officer said "you were trying to hit the military base towers".

"But I am unarmed?" Bassim said, the officer did not reply.

Bassim spent the next 19 months in many American prisons in Iraq . He talks about the absurdities, the bad treatment, and the humiliation he saw in prison. He was released many times, but was never out of prison. He spent days, his eyes tied, hands cuffed, without even knowing why. A woman soldier called Tane or Tain who investigated him told him that he hit the American vehicle, when he asked her about the weapon she told him that they found it. Bassim was so confident of his innocence that he suggested a finger print examination. Unsurprisingly, the result was positive. Bassim sarcastically told Tane that "either the computer was lying or you". She went mad and started shouting, but Bassim was put in the release room all the same.

But for some unknown reason, he was sent to Tikrit military camp. His hands were bleeding of the tight cuffs; he was sleeping on big hot pebbles, no food, no water…etc. When he heard his name, he realized that at last he is going to be free.

He was sent to the airport prison, camp C , again water was a dream, for drinking and washing, and of course in July the temperature reaches 55 centigrade in the shade. "But the worst thing was the Iraqi guards who were so obscene and dirty, ex criminals", Bassim remembers. Then he was sent to Nassiriya , on his way to Basra , where he was put in Camp Bucca for 4 months.

"The food so bad that you feel sick just smelling it, not eating it. It was hot inside the plastic tents, through which the burning desert sun was piercing. Out side the tent the sand storms were impossible. We had two meals a day, bathroom twice. But we were 600 having bath in half an hour. Four months later, they told me that I was going to be released. On that day, they said sorry and returned me back because there was no car, I said I can go to Baghdad on foot (500 kilometers), but that was useless.

There was no investigation, nothing in Bucca , just waiting, and taking collective punishments. But Abu Greib Prison was worse. Fox and Casey were the meanest.

Who are they?

A woman and a man soldier. For them we are simply criminals. The food was miserable, but we ate it. Once they brought chicken, I could not believe my eyes. But when I began to eat, I realized that there were worms in it, I ate it, none the less. The first and easiest punishment was cutting the food, water, and leaving the toilet without cleaning for two weeks. It was horrible. There was one tab for 600prisoners. Diarrhea was normal; there were queues on the doctor's door ..

On Dec14, 2003, Bassim was told that he was going to be released again, he did not believe it. He was sent to Bucca again. He had his first visit from his family on April15, 2004, 10 months after his arrest. Bassim was not tortured, but he witnessed many prisoners who were. A woman soldier peed on a religious man's beard, and raped him. He remained silent afterwards, not talking to any prisoner. Searching was very humiliating. They ask the prisoners to take off all their clothes, then they ask the prisoners to prostrate (as in prayer) and they search inside their buttocks. The prisoners went on demonstration protesting this search, so they were allowed to keep the shorts but to pull it up very tightly so that the organs would show.

On July 2004, Bassim got another release, on bail this time. The problem was how to tell his family. He was given new clothes, and even asked to shave in order to go out, but he had to wait until December to finish all the papers.

Did you hear about any women prisoners?

"I saw them. One was very old. She was arrested because they wanted her son who was a military officer. She was crying all the time . We organized a demonstration for her, they promised to release her. But when we were taken to the airport prison, we saw her there. There were about 15 women in the airport. We saw them when they were taken to investigation. Their guards were men, but for men prisoners, the guards were women, I think this is deliberate. They know that we are from a conservative society; many women soldiers do the sexual abuses or humiliate men prisoners like putting their boots on the prisoners' heads".

What were you charged of?

" of attacking a military convoy, but to charge somebody of committing something was not taken seriously. Many prisoners had no charges; anything could be put in the papers in the appeal. I have seen many of such cases"

How do you feel now, after spending 19 months in prison for nothing?

I do not know, I can not express my bitter feelings. Many things have changed. There are many new prisons, full of innocent people. They say that the number is 9-10 thousands in all the prisons. I can assure you that they are 90-100 thousands.

Are not you afraid?

No, I am innocent.