magictroll
05-03-2007, 05:31 AM
IRAQ: Saleh Nizar, Iraq "I thought I would not stand
the torture"
29 Apr 2007 15:19:30 GMT
Source: IRIN
http://www.alertnet .org/thenews/ newsdesk/ IRIN/ba9f1aae02b c246ebcc5de2b655 f1088.htm (http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/ba9f1aae02bc246ebcc5de2b655f1088.htm)
BAGHDAD, 29 April 2007 (IRIN) - Saleh Nizar, a
58-year-old gardener, says he was tortured in an Iraqi
prison after he was arrested and accused of
participating in an attack in the capital, Baghdad. He
was arrested on 15 October 2006 and set free on 5
April 2007 after he was helped by a senior Iraqi
officer who said that Nizar was his gardener and that
he was definitely innocent.
As result of the torture he endured, one of his legs
sustained serious injuries and doctors said it might
require amputation. Nizar, who has a heart condition
which he did not receive treatment for while in
prison, now spends much of his time in hospitals and
clinics trying to stay alive.
"For the nearly six months that I was in prison I
didn't have a day of peace. Either they were torturing
me or shouting at me, using the ugliest words,
accusing me of being a Saddam Hussein follower who
deserved the same fate as his [death by hanging].
"The most common torture was the use of electric
shocks and cigarettes to burn our skin. Other times
they would beat us with pieces of wood or electrical
wire.
"Some detainees were also raped by the officers in
front of everyone. And if the victim tried to run
away, they hit him with a piece of wood. The suffering
I endured in prison was doubled because in addition to
the pain that I had after each torture session, there
was also the desperate screaming of the other
prisoners.
"I thought I would not stand the torture in prison.
Every time I returned to my cell after being tortured,
I couldn't even drink the little water they gave us
because I feelt like all my body was burning.
Sometimes, there were prisoners who came back [from
torture sessions] with an odour of burning meat.
"One day, while I was being taken for interrogation, a
man who I had worked for at his home and who was a
senior officer in the Defence Ministry saw me. He
immediately came to see what was happening because
since I had been arrested from my home in Bataween
district, I hadn't gone to his home to take care of
his garden.
"The interrogator told the officers to release me
immediately and take me home. But before releasing me,
they took me to the torture room and forced me to hit
two guys in the room with electrical wires. When I
refused, they hit my face and said that it was my
commemoration for leaving the prison.
"Since I was released, my health has deteriorated and
I don't feel strong anymore. Sometimes I think I'll
die when I see the blood clots in my leg and the big
wound caused by a nail in a piece of wood which they
hit me with once.
"I would like to seek justice because my life was
destroyed in this prison ordeal but I'm scared that if
I do that I will be killed by them [prison officers]
and maybe cause problems to my ex-employer who helped
get me released.
"My family suffered all those months because they
couldn't get any information about me and they thought
that I was dead. My wife had a heart attack and my
only son was killed in an explosion while I was in the
prison, leaving his wife alone with three children.
"The only thing I have now is to wait for death
because those bastards knew how to end my life in this world."
the torture"
29 Apr 2007 15:19:30 GMT
Source: IRIN
http://www.alertnet .org/thenews/ newsdesk/ IRIN/ba9f1aae02b c246ebcc5de2b655 f1088.htm (http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/ba9f1aae02bc246ebcc5de2b655f1088.htm)
BAGHDAD, 29 April 2007 (IRIN) - Saleh Nizar, a
58-year-old gardener, says he was tortured in an Iraqi
prison after he was arrested and accused of
participating in an attack in the capital, Baghdad. He
was arrested on 15 October 2006 and set free on 5
April 2007 after he was helped by a senior Iraqi
officer who said that Nizar was his gardener and that
he was definitely innocent.
As result of the torture he endured, one of his legs
sustained serious injuries and doctors said it might
require amputation. Nizar, who has a heart condition
which he did not receive treatment for while in
prison, now spends much of his time in hospitals and
clinics trying to stay alive.
"For the nearly six months that I was in prison I
didn't have a day of peace. Either they were torturing
me or shouting at me, using the ugliest words,
accusing me of being a Saddam Hussein follower who
deserved the same fate as his [death by hanging].
"The most common torture was the use of electric
shocks and cigarettes to burn our skin. Other times
they would beat us with pieces of wood or electrical
wire.
"Some detainees were also raped by the officers in
front of everyone. And if the victim tried to run
away, they hit him with a piece of wood. The suffering
I endured in prison was doubled because in addition to
the pain that I had after each torture session, there
was also the desperate screaming of the other
prisoners.
"I thought I would not stand the torture in prison.
Every time I returned to my cell after being tortured,
I couldn't even drink the little water they gave us
because I feelt like all my body was burning.
Sometimes, there were prisoners who came back [from
torture sessions] with an odour of burning meat.
"One day, while I was being taken for interrogation, a
man who I had worked for at his home and who was a
senior officer in the Defence Ministry saw me. He
immediately came to see what was happening because
since I had been arrested from my home in Bataween
district, I hadn't gone to his home to take care of
his garden.
"The interrogator told the officers to release me
immediately and take me home. But before releasing me,
they took me to the torture room and forced me to hit
two guys in the room with electrical wires. When I
refused, they hit my face and said that it was my
commemoration for leaving the prison.
"Since I was released, my health has deteriorated and
I don't feel strong anymore. Sometimes I think I'll
die when I see the blood clots in my leg and the big
wound caused by a nail in a piece of wood which they
hit me with once.
"I would like to seek justice because my life was
destroyed in this prison ordeal but I'm scared that if
I do that I will be killed by them [prison officers]
and maybe cause problems to my ex-employer who helped
get me released.
"My family suffered all those months because they
couldn't get any information about me and they thought
that I was dead. My wife had a heart attack and my
only son was killed in an explosion while I was in the
prison, leaving his wife alone with three children.
"The only thing I have now is to wait for death
because those bastards knew how to end my life in this world."