BAGHDAD — The notorious Abu Ghraib prison is at the center of fresh abuse charges just a week after it was handed over to Iraqi authorities, with claims that inmates are being tortured by their new captors.
Staff at the jail say the Iraqi authorities have moved dozens of terrorism suspects into Abu Ghraib from an Interior Ministry detention center in Jadriyah, where U.S. troops last year discovered 169 prisoners who had been tortured and starved.
An independent observer sent into Abu Ghraib last week by the Sunday Telegraph reported screams from the cell blocks housing the terrorism suspects. Prisoners released from the jail in recent days spoke of routine torture of terrorism suspects, and on Wednesday, 27 prisoners were hanged in the first mass execution since the overthrow of dictator Saddam Hussein’s regime.
Conditions in the rest of the jail were grim — with an overwhelming stench of excrement, prisoners crammed into cells for all but 20 minutes a day, food rations cut to just rice and water and no air conditioning, the observer said.
Some of the small number of prisoners who remained in the jail after U.S. troops left said they had pleaded to go with their departing captors, rather than be left in the hands of Iraqi guards.
“The Americans were better than the Iraqis. They treated us better,” said Khalid Alaani, who is being held on suspicion of involvement in Sunni terrorism.
Abu Ghraib became synonymous with abuse after pictures published in 2004 showed prisoners being tortured and humiliated, galvanizing opposition to the U.S. presence in Iraq.
The Telegraph gained access to the prison just days after the United States formally handed over control to Iraqi authorities on Sept. 1.
Inside the 100-yard-long cell block, the smell of excrement was overpowering. Four to six prisoners shared each of the 12-foot-by-15-foot cells along either side, and the walls were smeared with filth. The cell block was patrolled by guards who carried long batons and shouted angrily at the prisoners to stand up.
Access to the part of the prison containing terrorism suspects was denied, but the sound of screaming could be heard from that block. The screaming continued for a long time.
“I am sure someone was being beaten, they were screaming like they were being hit,” the observer reported. “I felt scared; I was asking what was happening in the terrorist section.
“I heard shouting, like someone had a hot iron on their body, screams. The officer said they were just screaming by themselves. I was hearing the screams throughout the visit.”
The observer said that even in the thieves’ section, prisoners were being treated badly.
“Someone was shouting ’Please help us, we want the human rights officers, we want the Americans to come back,’” he said.
Prisoners interviewed in the presence of their jailers said that they were frightened for their safety. They complained that chicken and milk had been cut from their rations, leaving them with rice and water. They also complained about the oppressive heat.
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