MINISTRY OF HUMAN RIGHTS EMPLOYEE REPORTS TORTURE,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 001483 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/27/2017 TAGS: PHUM KDEM PGOV KJUS MOPS IZ SUBJECT: MINISTRY OF HUMAN RIGHTS EMPLOYEE REPORTS TORTURE, EXTORTION REF: BAGHDAD 1378 Classified By: Acting Political Counselor Charles O. Blaha, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C/NF) SUMMARY: On April 22, Ministry of Human Rights (MoHR) employee Amar Sabrih (strictly protect) told PolOff Iraqi police tortured him and nine other detainees at a Baghdad police station near the Khadra area of Baghdad (Mahalla 639) during March 21 to 25. According to Sabrih, they concealed these actions from Coalition Forces that visited the facility. Sabrih said the torture included beatings, shoulder dislocation, and electrical shocks. He said that the police freed him after his relatives paid them 1000 USD to secure his release. Sabrih reported that Human Rights Minister Wijdan Salim spoke to him about his ordeal on April 19 and suggested that he file a report to the MoHR prisons inspections division; however, Sabrih, who is Sunni, said he declined to do so because he is afraid of the prisons division, allegedly dominated by Shiites with sectarian agendas. END SUMMARY. -------------- MOHR EMPLOYEE'S DESCRIBES HIS ARREST -------------- ¶2. (C/NF) During an April 22 meeting, Amar Sabrih (strictly protect),who is a clerk in the legal directorate of MoHR, relayed to PolOff the circumstances surrounding his arrest, detention, torture, and release by Iraqi police from March 21 through March 25. He said that the police arrested him the morning of March 21 at his home in Baghdad's Khadra neighborhood in the process of rounding up a number of other people in the neighborhood, in a seemingly random manner. Sabrih stated that the police forcibly entered his home, after refusing to give time to let his female family members put on their hijabs (head coverings). Sabrih reported that the first police officer who spoke to him inside his home behaved properly; he only asked Sabrih to show his identification card and state his place of employment. Five other police officers, however, then entered his home and against the protests of the officer that had been interviewing him, dragged him out of the house while beating him with their rifle butts. Sabrih said an American soldier approached the police and told them to stop beating him. ¶3. (C/NF) Sabrih noted that the Iraqi forces took him and two other detainees to a police camp between the Khadra and Amariya neighborhoods on the back of a pick-up truck. He said that one of the Iraqi police sitting with the detainees on the back of the truck then commented to him that they would wait until the Americans were out of sight. Sabrih said that when they reached the police camp, he shouted for help when he heard the voices of American soldiers -- since he was blindfolded and handcuffed. An American soldier approached and Sabrih told the soldier's translator, "If you leave, they will kill me". He said that the American forces then registered and photographed him and other detainees, and during the course of his four-day detention, came to the camp every morning to make sure no detainees were missing. Sabrih commented that he believes this measure prevents deaths. -------------- TORTURE DURING DETENTION -------------- ¶4. (C/NF) Sabrih reported that he was then taken, blind-folded and handcuffed into a room, and he heard the Americans say that there were ten detainees in total. After some time, he heard the sound of humvees leaving the camp, and then the Iraqi police took him and the other detainees out of the room and had them stand in a single-file line in a hall. Sabrih said that they were forced to stand for approximately eight hours and were punched and kicked periodically. He reported that he endured approximately 15 beatings during this time and was not allowed to go to the toilet. Sabrih noted hearing the sound of other men dropping as they fainted. Sabrih reported that after the approximately eight-hour waiting period, the police started taking the men one-by-one to speak with an interrogator. He said that during this time, for some reason, he was the only man who was not interrogated. When the Americans returned, the police returned them to their holding room. ¶5. (C/NF) According to Sabrih, during the late evening of his second day of detention, the police brought him and the other detainees out the holding room, lined them up, and began to beat and shock them with electricity. Sabrih said that the police threw water on them and he heard the crackle of the electricity as they were shocked. He said he heard someone BAGHDAD 00001483 002 OF 003 say to avoid leaving any visible scars, especially on the face. Sabrih reported that the beating and shocking -- which left finger-width marks on his back and shoulders -- were merely preparation for the night shift interrogator. Sabrih said that he heard the screams of the nine other men over an approximately five hour period as they were taken to another room for interrogation, and again, he was the only man that was not interrogated. Sabrih assessed he was spared initially due to his affiliation with MoHR. He said at the end of the waiting period, he broke his silence and demanded to know what his charge was; however, he was then hit on the head so hard that he fainted and was dragged back into the holding room. ¶6. (C/NF) Sabrih said once he regained consciousness in the holding cell, he made a space in his blindfold by rubbing his head against the wall, and was then able to see the room. He said that he was surprised to see that his uncle was among the other detainees and noted that he could see that the other men were bruised under their torn shirts. Sabrih said that he then spoke up and instructed the men how to make a space in their blindfold as he had done, and they did the same. He then asked the other men what had happened to them when they were interrogated. Sabrih's uncle said that he was tortured with electrical shocks to his genitals. One of the other men told him that during the interrogation, his leg was stretched over two blocks and his knee was broken, and then because he could not walk, he was dragged out of the interrogation room, which was called the "intelligence officer's room" on a blanket. ¶7. (C/NF) Sabrih said that on his third days of detention, he was interrogated and tortured. He said that during interrogation, the police lifted his arms -- that had been handcuffed together behind him -- and then pulled them up towards the front of him. Sabrih said that having dislocated his shoulders, the police then un-handcuffed him and then kicked him to reposition his arms. Sabrih noted that the police used this technique on all of the men and it would cause them to faint. He said that his arms were temporarily paralyzed afterwards for five to six hours. -------------- ALLEGATIONS OF EXTORTION -------------- ¶8. (C/NF) Sabrih reported that on the fourth day, the interrogator told him he was innocent and he would be transferred to Khadimiya (the Ministry of Interior 2nd National Police division headquarters detention center) and released. He said that during his release, he was not transferred and then released from Khadimiya, but was let go directly from the camp. Sabrih said that subsequently, he learned that his family had paid 1000 USD in bribes to the police, and he assessed this is why he was not transferred to Khadimiya. He added that his uncle was also released after the family paid a 1000 USD bribe. Sabrih noted that of the ten men at the police station holding room he knew of only three that were released -- himself, his uncle, and a third man, whose father had leveraged some personal connections with the police. ¶9. (C/NF) Sabrih alleged that a cousin had been released after being detained for three months at Khadimiya, because his family paid 5000 USD in bribes in December 2006. He commented that the prices for bribes are different and higher prices are charged at Khadimiya. Sabrih reported that someone called "Rafid" who is a Shiite friend from Baghdad's Khadimiya district, where the detention center is located, brokered his cousin's release through friends in the neighborhood who work at the detention center. Sabrih said that his cousin has since left Iraq to seek medical care. He added that that many people who remain detained are those who cannot pay to be released. -------------- REPORTED CORRUPTION/SECTARIANISM IN MOHR -------------- ¶10. (C/NF) Sabrih said that when he was detained, his family notified MoHR about his detention. He said that an official at the ministry called the Interior Ministry, which then incorrectly informed the official that Sabrih was detained at Khadimiya. Sabrih asserted that some of the ministry staff knew his actual whereabouts, but apparently did not pass the information for unknown reasons. He said that after he returned to work at the ministry, only close friends inquired about what had happened to him. ¶11. (C/NF) Sabrih reported that on April 19, Minister of BAGHDAD 00001483 003 OF 003 Human Rights Wijdan Salim approached him in his office and asked him about the prison situation. He said he told her what had happened to him and she asked him to make a report to the ministry's prisons division, which is under the Directorate General of Humanitarian Affairs headed by Ahmed Muhammed Attar. Sabrih said that he has not filed a report, because he fears the entire prison division, which is predominantly Shiite -- but, in his words, has "a few token Kurds, Christians, and Sunnis doing administrative tasks". He said he was particularly skeptical of Attar's deputy, Saad Sultan. Sabrih asserted that Sultan was marginalizing Minister Wijdan by bypassing her through his actions. ¶12. (SBU) The Deputy Commissioner of Iraq's Commission on Public Integrity (CPI) Mousa Faraj on January 25 sent a memorandum to the MoHR Inspector General's Office alleging that Saad Sultan was obstructing the ministry's prisons inspection mission and had leaked information provided by a detainee. Faraj asked that MoHR conduct an investigation of the complaint and inform CPI of the results. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶13. (C/NF) Sabrih's accounts of torture are consistent with the reports of other individuals who have reported torture by Iraqi Forces that conceal their actions from Coalition Forces (reftel). The allegations of sectarianism in MoHR are difficult to substantiate; however Post will continue to monitor the situation and seek evidence regarding the allegations. END COMMENT. SPECKHARD