Violations were 'tantamount to torture' (original) (raw)

Edited extracts of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) report into the treatment of Iraqi prisoners by coalition [US, British and other countries'] forces

The ICRC draws the attention of the Coalition Forces (hereafter called "the CF") to a number of serious violations of International Humanitarian Law. These violations have been documented and sometimes observed while visiting prisoners of war, civilian internees and other persons protected by the Geneva Conventions in Iraq between March and November 2003.

The main violations

The main violations, which are described in the ICRC report and presented confidentially to the CF, include:

· Brutality against protected persons upon capture and initial custody, sometimes causing death or serious injury;

· Absence of notification of arrest of persons to their families;

· Physical or psychological coercion during interrogation to secure information;

· Prolonged solitary confinement in cells devoid of daylight;

· Excessive and disproportionate use of force, resulting in death or injury.

Serious problems of conduct:

· Seizure and confiscation of prisoners' private belongings;

· Exposure of detainees to dangerous tasks;

· Holding detainees in places where they are not protected from shelling.

According to allegations collected by ICRC delegates during private interviews ill treatment during capture was frequent. While certain circumstances might require defensive precautions and the use of force, the ICRC collected allegations of ill treatment following capture which took place in Baghdad, Basra, Ramadi and Tikrit, indicating a consistent pattern with respect to times and places of brutal behaviour during arrest. The repetition of such behaviour by CF appeared to go beyond the reasonable, legitimate and proportional use of force required to apprehend suspects or restrain persons resisting arrest or capture, and seemed to reflect a usual modus operandi by certain CF battle groups.

According to the allegations collected by the ICRC, ill treatment during interrogation was not systematic, except with regard to persons arrested in connection with suspected security offences or deemed to have an "intelligence" value. In these cases, detainees under supervision of military intelligence were at high risk of being subjected to a variety of harsh treatments ranging from insults, threats and humiliations to both physical and psychological coercion, which in some cases was tantamount to torture...

In the case of "high value detainees" held in Baghdad international airport, the continued internment, several months after their arrest, in strict solitary confinement in cells devoid of sunlight for nearly 23 hours a day constituted a serious violation of the third and fourth Geneva conventions.

Use of force

The ICRC was also concerned about the excessive and disproportionate use of force by some detaining authorities ... during periods of unrest or escape attempts that caused death and serious injuries. The use of firearms in circumstances where methods without using firearms could have yielded the same result could amount to a serious violation of international humanitarian law.

The ICRC reviewed a number of incidents of shootings of detainees with live bullets. Investigations initiated by the CF concluded that the use of firearms was legitimate. However, non-lethal measures could have been used to obtain the same results.

Since the beginning of the conflict, the ICRC has regularly brought its concerns to the attention of the CF. The observations in the present report are consistent with those made earlier on several occasions orally and in writing to the CF throughout 2003. In spite of some improvements in the material conditions of internment, allegations of ill treatment continued to be collected by the ICRC and thus suggested that the use of ill treatment ... might be considered as a practice tolerated by the CF.

Where mistreatment took place

The main places of internment where mistreatment allegedly took place included battle group unit stations; the military intelligence sections of Camp Cropper and Abu Ghraib correctional facility; Al-Baghdadi, Heat Base and Hubbania Camp in Ramadi governorate; Tikrit holding area (former Saddam Hussein Islamic School); a former train station Al-Khaim, near the Syrian border, turned into a military base; the ministry of defence and presidential palace in Baghdad, the former mukhabarat [Saddam's secret police] office in Basra, as well as several police stations in Baghdad.

Methods of ill treatment

·Hooding, used to prevent people from seeing and to disorient them, and also to prevent them from breathing freely. One or two bags were used, sometimes with a blindfold which, when slipped down, further impeded proper breathing. Hooding was sometimes used in conjunction with beatings thus increasing anxiety as to when blows would come. [It] also allowed the interrogators to remain anonymous and thus to act with impunity. Hooding could last for periods from a few hours to up to two to four consecutive days;

· Handcuffing with flexi-cuffs, which were sometimes made so tight and used for such extended periods that they caused skin lesions and long-term nerve damage;

· Beating with hard objects (including guns), slapping, punching, kicking with knees or feet on various parts of the body;

· Pressing the face into the ground with boots;

· Threats (of ill treatment, reprisals against family members, ... transfer to Guantanamo);

· Being stripped naked for several days while held in solitary confinement ;

· Being paraded naked in front of other detainees and guards, sometimes with women's underwear over the head;

· Acts of humiliation while being laughed at by guards, including female guards, and sometimes photographed in this position;

· Being attached repeatedly over several days, for several hours each time, with handcuffs to the bars of their cell door in humiliating and/or uncomfortable position causing physical pain;

· Exposure while hooded to loud noise or music, to the sun over several hours, including during the hottest time of the day when temperatures could reach 50C (122F) or higher;

· Being forced to stay for prolonged periods in stress positions such as squatting.

These methods were used by the military intelligence in a systematic way to gain confessions and extract information from detainees arrested in connection with suspected security offences or deemed to have an "intelligence value."