(text) photo: A Detention in Palestine (Credits: AFP) A correspondent sending this article comments: WHAT follows is the translation of an article published
on May 10th, 2004 in the Arabic Palestinian weekly newspaper Al-Manar (in Arabic) a widely read newspaper which is published in East Jerusalem. I worked for Al-Manar between 1991 and 1994. The editor has strong and credible sources in different Arab countries and in Israel. The Daily Life of Kawther Salam Israel’s involvement in Iraq: Torture and Petroleum ISRAELI experts in torture have taken part in the torture of the Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib Jail.
According to the Al-Manar report which was published on the first page of its edition number 673, The American forces killed 1400 Iraqi prisoner since they occupied Iraq and buried most of them in the desert, far away in the countryside. These prisoners died during torture sessions made by the torture teams, who cut parts of the prisoners bodies. Al-Manar says that there are over 30,000 Iraqi prisoners spread in different American jails.
There are 2,100 women and girls among the prisoners, some of them are minors. All the women prisoners have passed through terrible torture sessions, some of them were raped. Al-Manar points out that the torture instructions were sent in writing to the jail guards and to the interrogators. The torture experts were following these instructions and this led to abuse of the the Iraqi prisoners. Their torture team seriously harmed 37 children under the age of 13.
Al-Manar ‘s sources confirmed that there are Israeli experts of torture taking part in the torture of the Iraqi prisoners. The Israeli torture experts team has transferred to the country of Israel some of the Iraqi political prisoners and military officers to continue the investigation sessions there. Some of these prisoners have already died. The American torture teams add different kinds of inhuman torture in the Iraqi jails besides to the physical torture.
They were forcing the prisoners to take different kinds of medicine during the torture session. The medical torture provoked serious symptoms on the prisoners health who had taken the medicine. Al-Manar mentions that the officers in charge of torturing the detainees at the Iraqi prisons were sending daily reports for Washington with detailed information about the torture methods used at the Iraqi prisons. The reports mentioned that the Iraqi prisoners were also tortured in a prison in Qatar.
Al-Manar said that the American persons whose names have been publicised in the media in relation to the now well-known scandal regarding torture of Iraqi prisoners were paid by other higher officers and political addresses in order to hide the real facts behind the torture of the Iraqis. There are high military and political officers involved in this case, but they are hiding behind the lower rank personnel.
Al-Manar sources ended the report saying that there are some American military personnel from the Intelligence and the military police who have more information about the torture in Iraq and who have written documents which were sent to President George Bush himself as well as to Pentagon and the military officers. These officers have disappeared. One of these officers was responsible for burying the Iraqi prisoners after their death.
Do the Israelis really take part in torture of Iraqi prisoners? There are no western newspapers writing about the involvement of Israelis in the torture in Iraq, there was just some initial speculation about this when the scandal broke out, which quickly disappeared. But before answering this question, let us look at some ways in which the Israeli experts were torturing their Palestinian prisoners.
In brief and according to testimonies of women detainees which I collected during the first intifada by directly visiting and talking to these persons after they were released from Israeli imprisonment, and by searching through the Al-Haq Organization for the Human Rights in Ramallah. Al-Shabah: during the first few days, there are likely to be at least two interrogation sessions each twenty four hours, each one lasting for several hours.
Between the interrogation sessions, the detainee may be placed in the “Shabah” or “coffin”. Both methods make sleep impossible. Shabah means that the detainee is made to squat stand with legs bent, or is made to sit handcuffed to the wall of an outdoor yard. The “Coffin” is a tiny cell measuring about one meter square into which the detainee is locked for hours at a time. Beatings : Women are routinely slapped, and kicked during interrogation session if they do not readily answer questions.
The interrogator will bang the women’s head against the wall during the same session. This was the most common and easy way of torture at the Israeli jails in which the mental state of many prisoners had been severely affected. Electric Shocks: the Israeli interrogators used the electric shock chair shock during the investigation. For example, nineteen year old Maryam Qadumi said that from the beginning of her interrogation, the Shabak, the Israeli Intelligence, had used electric shocks.
The interrogators asked her questions and when she refused to talk, they took her to a room with a red light and a special chair. The chair was made of iron and leather and had wires attached to it. She was made to sit on it and a prison officer connected the wires to her legs and arms. She was extremely frightened. The interrogator who was in charge told the prison officer to turn on the current. After this session they took her to the tiny cell for a couple of hours and then took her