IRAQ: Former detainee of Abu Ghraib prison claims he was subject to abuse by U.S. Soldiers

Record ID: 334725

  • Title: IRAQ: Former detainee of Abu Ghraib prison claims he was subject to abuse by U.S. Soldiers
  • Date: 17th May 2004
  • Summary: (W4) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (MAY 17, 2004) (REUTERS) WIDE VIEW OF FORMER ABU GHRAIB PRISON DETAINEE, SADDAM SALEH, WHO CLAIMS HE SUFFERED ABUSE AT THE HANDS OF U.S. SOLDIERS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SADDAM SALEH SAYING "They took me out of the cell and stripped me naked. I was handcuffed with a hood on my head and they made me stand on a box. I can recognise them, I can identify them, if you have their pictures." CLOSE-UP OF SALEH'S HAND (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic), SADDAM SALEH, SAYING: "The torture went on until 4 o'clock, when I collapsed. They removed the hood from my head and I was able to see their faces, but I was too weak to move. They started to laugh at me and take pictures and one of the soldiers urinated on me." CU: SALEH'S EYES (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SALEH SAYING: "The torture lasted for 18 days. Every time, they tortured me for 23 hours and gave me an hour to rest. In one of the pictures, I remember that they made me stand like this." (SALEH POINTS AT THE PICTURE OF NAKED PRISONERS AND LYNNDIE ENGLAND POINTING AT THE PRISONERS' GENITALS / SALEH CLAIMS TO BE THE THIRD MAN FROM THE RIGHT) CLOSE-UP OF SALEH'S HAND (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SALEH SAYING: "A soldier came and woke me up and led me down. I saw a man called Davis or Ivan with a female soldier who threatened to rape me if I did not confess." SALEH SITTING DOWN (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SALEH, SAYING: "The person who did this is not a human being, but an animal in human clothes." SALEH LOOKING AT THE PICTURES OF HOODED IRAQI PRISONERS
  • Embargoed: 1st June 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Crime,Conflict,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA4OMLL1VJ8T23NOYM3NJQISY71
  • Story Text: A former detainee of Abu Ghraib prison claims to have been subjected to abuse.
    An Iraqi truck driver, who was imprisoned for four months at Abu Ghraib jail just outside Baghdad, has claimed he suffered abuse by U.S. soldiers.
    Saddam Saleh claims he was kept naked for 23 hours a day, chained by his arms and legs to the bars of his cell with loud music blaring constantly in his ears.
    Saddam Saleh was held for four months at the jail just outside Baghdad. For 18 days he says was kept naked for 23 hours a day, chained by his arms and legs to the bars of his cell with loud music blaring constantly in his ears.
    The 29-year-old man says he appears in at least one of the pictures of torture and degradation that have so far emerged from Abu Ghraib, standing in a row of naked and hooded men as Private Lynndie England, cigarette in mouth, points at their genitals.
    "They took me out of the cell and stripped me naked. I was handcuffed with a hood on my head and they made me stand on a box. I can recognise them, I can identify them if you have their pictures," Saleh said.
    Saleh was sent to Abu Ghraib on December 1 last year, after the worst of the abuses are said to have taken place, and was freed on March 28, according to his release papers, which list him as prisoner 200144.
    Saleh said one American soldier beat him with an iron bar and dragged him around the floor in chains.
    When recounting his experiences, Saleh occasionally switched into very basic English, repeating words he claims he often heard his jailers use, like "son of a bitch" and "bastard".
    "The torture went on until 4 o'clock, when I collapsed.
    They removed the hood from my head and I was able to see their faces, but I was too weak to move. They started to laugh at me and take pictures and one of the soldiers urinated on me," he said.
    He said the abuse was relentless at times.
    "The torture lasted for 18 days. Every time they tortured me for 23 hours and gave me an hour to rest. In one of the pictures, I remember that they made me stand like this," (points at the picture of naked prisoners and Lynndie England pointing at their genitals / Saleh claims to be the third man from the right).
    Most of the time, he says he was held in a razor-wire pen outside, but for nearly a month he was held in cell 42 of block 1A, the most notorious wing, where much of the worst abuse allegedly took place.
    "A soldier came and woke me up and led me down. I saw a man called Davis or Ivan with a female soldier who threatened to rape me if I did not confess. The person who did this is not a human being, but an animal in human clothes," he said.
    Saleh says he was arrested in the Iraqi capital after going to the police to alert them to a suspicious car.
    After finding a lot of money on him, the police themselves became suspicious and handed Saleh over to U.S.
    forces. Saleh says the money was to buy furniture before his marriage.
    He says he only discovered the accusations against him three days before being released. He was told that he was being held on suspicion of belonging to a terrorist cell.
    Saleh said he was aware that Specialist Jeremy Sivits, who is alleged to have taken many photos of the abuse, will be court-martialled in Baghdad on Wednesday (May 19), and wants to attend the trial. If he is prevented, he says he will force his way in.
    Saleh believes his attackers should receive the same punishment as they meted out to their captives.
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