Group points to “horrific” rights violations in Iraqi prisons

 

Azzaman, June 30, 2009

 

Iraqi prisoners are being tortured and sexually abused, said a senior human rights official.

 

Fawziya al-Jashami said she had seen “horrific traces” of torture during a visit to a prison in the southern Province of Babel of which Hilla is the capital.

 

“I saw types of torture which are so vicious and horrific that I cannot describe them as a woman.

 

“It is a kind of sexual torture which one is ashamed to talk about and occurs for the first time in Iraq,” Jashami, who heads the Human Rights Committee in the province, said.

 

Following her fact-finding mission to one of the province’s jails, she said she was appalled by what she saw and heard.

 

“Every inmate has about 30 square centimeters of space because of overcrowding,” she added.

 

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki defended his security forces’ record. Addressing senior officials from the ministries of Interior and Defense, he said:

“Pay no attention to those who take human rights as an excuse to achieve their aims … if everyone is innocent, then who is responsible for the destruction of the country and the killing of innocent people,” Maliki said.

 

Maliki made the remarks as U.S. occupation troops started withdrawing from Iraqi cities.