[News] Children in Iraqi prisons

[News at freedomarchives.org]

Children in Iraqi prisons

Human rights groups demand immediate access to children held as criminals 
or 'security detainees.'

by 
<http://www.csmonitor.com/cgi-bin/encryptmail.pl?ID=D4EFEDA0D2E5E7E1EEA0ADA0E2F9ECE9EEE5>Tom 
Regan | csmonitor.com

August 4, 2004

<http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0804/dailyUpdate.html?s=ent>http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0804/dailyUpdate.html?s=ent


The Sunday Herald of Scotland reported this week on its own investigation 
into allegations that more than 100 children, some as young as 10 
years-old, <http://www.sundayherald.com/43796>are being detained by 
coalition forces in Iraq under suspicion of "alleged activities targeting 
the occupying forces." Many of the children are being held in a special 
wing at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. The Herald's story includes 
allegations that some of the children were abused, tortured, or raped, by 
coalition and Iraqi soldiers.

An Iraqi TV reporter Suhaib Badr-Addin al-Baz saw the Abu Ghraib children's 
wing when he was arrested by Americans while making a documentary. He spent 
74 days in Abu Ghraib. "I saw a camp for children there," he said. "Boys, 
under the age of puberty. There were certainly hundreds of children in this 
camp." Al-Baz said he heard a 12-year-old girl crying. Her brother was also 
held in the jail. One night guards came into her cell. "She was beaten," 
said al-Baz. "I heard her call out, 'They have undressed me. They have 
poured water over me.'"

A report run on the 
<http://www.swr.de/report/archiv/sendungen/040705/02/04070502.ram%20>German 
TV program Report Mainz (video) in July on the same topic included an 
interview with US Sgt. Samuel Provance. Sgt. Provance was one of the 
original whistleblowers who said US troops were abusing prisoners at Abu 
Ghraib. Provance has since been transferred to Germany. He says he was 
ordered by his superiors not to talk to the media any more. In May, 
Provance said he was told by Army officials that he may be prosecuted 
because his statements were 
"<http://abcnews.go.com/sections/WNT/Investigation/abu_ghraib_cover_up_040521-1.html>not 
in the national interest."

Provance, however, did talk to the German TV crew about the treatment of 
children at Abu Ghraib. He alleges that 
<http://www.traprockpeace.org/iraqi_child_prisoners.htm#germantv>children 
were sometimes abused in order to force their parents to give information 
to coalition authorities. Provance spoke about one incident in which he 
says he witnessed this happening with a 16 year-old boy.

He was full of fear, very alone. He had the thinnest little arms that I 
have ever seen. His whole body shook. His wrists were so thin that we could 
not put handcuffs on him. As soon as I saw him for the first time and led 
him to the interrogation, I felt sorry for him. The interrogation 
specialists doused him with water and put him in a truck. Then they drove 
with him throughout the night, and at that time it was very, very cold. 
Then they smeared him with mud and showed him to his likewise imprisoned 
father. With him [the father] they had tried out other interrogation 
methods. But they had not succeeded in making him talk. The interrogation 
specialists told me that after the father had seen his son in that 
condition, it broke his heart. He wept and promised to tell them what they 
wanted to know.

IRINnews.org, an information website run by the United Nations Office for 
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, reports that "access to child 
detainees is difficult and human rights groups are concerned about their 
welfare ...." An IRIN reporter visited the Karkh prison in Baghdad, where 
the warden told him that there are 150 children between the ages of nine 
and 18 "are being held there 
<http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=42192&SelectRegion=Iraq_Crisis&SelectCountry=IRAQ>on 
any given day, both those convicted of crimes and those awaiting trial."

The IRIN story also quotes US Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a spokesman for the 
Office of the Deputy Commanding General for Detainee Operations, who says 
that 58 children are being held at Abu Ghraib as "security detainees."

But Karkh warden Wali Jaleel Jabar says the story is more complicated than 
it would seem on the surface.

Jabar pointed out, however, that some of the children were in jail for very 
serious crimes. Some 30 of them are in prison for killings, mostly of 
family members. Another 34 have committed armed robbery. All children in 
the prison have been sent there since the US-led invasion last April. All 
previous inmates in Iraq were let free by their jailers as US troops 
advanced into the country. No matter how well the children are treated, 
they can still exhibit dangerous behavior in their late teens, however, 
Jabar said. Children aged between nine and 14 were recently separated from 
the 15 to 18-year-olds on the recommendation of US advisers, the detention 
center warden said.

Jabar also says his prison "has 20 social workers, doctors and medical 
assistants, and five teachers ... Anyone accused of beating a child is 
investigated and can be fired."

While most US media have not covered the allegations about children in 
Iraqi prisons, there have been stories about US troops who have made an 
effort to connect with the children of Iraq. The Republican of western 
Massachusetts tells the story of US troops 
<http://www.masslive.com/hampfrank/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-7/1091092624251504.xml>invited 
to attend a dinner thrown in their honor by Iraqis who wanted to thank them 
for building an elementary school in their town.

A Fort Hood First Cavalry soldier sent an e-mail asking for shoes, because 
so many young people in Iraq don't have them. Morte than 
<http://www.kcentv.com/news/c-article.php?cid=1&nid=4979>2000 pairs were 
donated in Texas and Georgia. The Oregonian reported in late July that the 
command sergeant major of the Oregon Army National Guard has sent out a 
similiar request 
<http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1090929403125661.xml>for 
school supplies for Iraqi children.

Meanwhile, the Institute for War and Peace Reporting recently wrote about 
30 Iraqi children who are 
<http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/irq/irq_73_6_eng.txt>being trained as 
young journalists, much to the dismay of their parents and the authorities. 
The children have used their new found skills to write about "child abuse 
in the home, violence against children in the schools, and of an antiquated 
and ineffective educational system."

Finally, The Raleigh News and Observer reports on the "Article 32" hearing 
at Fort Bragg, North Carolina to determine if Pfc. Lynndie England, one of 
the US soldiers accused of abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraibm, will be 
court-martialed. Military investigators said Tuesday that Pfc. England was 
"<http://newsobserver.com/news/story/1498090p-7656592c.html>acting 
independently" and not under orders from superiors when she posed with 
naked Iraqi prisoners. The investigators, however, also described the 
organization at Abu Ghraib as chaotic. Many units were "ad hoc" he said, 
with soldiers falling under different commanders, creating confusion about 
the chain-of-command.

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