Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Child Prisoners in Iraq Suffering Same Abuse as Adults

Ahora | 09.12.2007 21:30 | Anti-racism | World

The propaganda of the Neo-Fascists falls apart when they become a thousandfold more brutal and barabaric than 'ze terrorists" we're supposed to fear.

Child Prisoners in Iraq Suffering Same Abuse as Adults
Ahora

December 8, 2007

The existence of minors imprisoned in some Iraqi jails was recently confirmed through IRIN, a project of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

It was known a priori that brutal executions and a thousand forms of horrifying violence would accompany the «democratic» crusade of George W. Bush in Iraq.
I’m not only referring to the startling images that appeared a couple years ago, showing prisoners tortured and humiliated in Abu Ghraib by members of the US armed forces; nor am I alluding to the no less atrocious bombings and cutting down of civilian populations by the occupation armies.

I’m speaking of a form of abuse worse than those on the long list of violations committed during America’s intervention: the imprisoment of children. The UN’s Integrated Regional Information Networks, commonly known as the IRIN news agency, recently confirmed the existence of minors imprisoned in some Iraqi jails.
«They are treated as adults» and subjected to «abuse and torture» during interrogations, reported the news agency.

The investigations began after several families went to a humanitarian organization, Association for Justice for Prisoners (AJP), seeking psychological assistance for their children who had just been released from jail.

This case involved five minors, between the ages of 13 and 17, who were detained during operations of the Iraqi army in the Baghdad neighborhoods of Adhamiya, Latifiya, Alawi, Dura and Hay al Adel. They were held under the charges of supporting the insurgency.

«The five children showed signs of torture on their bodies. Three of them had cigarette burns on their legs and one could not speak because the shock sessions had affected his capacity for conversation,» parents bemoaned.

Torture and Abuse

As specified by international law, children that have been arrested should remain in that situation for the shortest possible time, held in a special place separate from adults, and receive special treatment. However, these pacts —we know— only serve to file files in the White House – not to be put into practice or complied with.

Despite the fact that the Interior Ministry of the Mesopotamian country and the occupation army deny these accusations —saying that minors who are held for interrogation are released within 48 hours, without suffering abuse or torture— IRIN affirms that children have remained in prison more than two years, and are mixed in with the adult population.

High-ranking officials of the Iraqi Interior Ministry communicated anonymously to IRIN saying that in each Iraqi jail there are at least 220 children and that they all have been abused.
AJP reported that it has informants in the prisons, but since the organization refuses to release their names, it is impossible to prove the alleged abuses. IRIN has requested permission to visit the prisons where minors are said to be held, but its request has —of course— been rejected.

AJP spokesperson Jalid Rabiaa said that weekly, at least two children and their parents come to his office in search of help. «This is not a political game; they’re young and it’s necessary to respect their rights.» «They are trying to hide the truth, but the reality is that they are there and they need special help before and after their release,» he added.

Source: Yailé Balloqui Bonzón

Link: www.ahora.cu/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=5594

Ahora

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech