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