By Darrin Simmons
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq-Thousands of women have suffer torture and other forms of abuse, including sexual assault, while being illegally held in Iraqi prisons, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Thursday.

The allegations were based on a report containing the testimony of the female detainees, their relatives and lawyers, prison medics, court documents and meetings with official.  Thus, giving credit to one of the central claims made by disaffected Sunni Arabs frustrated with the Shiite-led government.

The minority community has taken issue with the dominating long-running protests in Iraq’s Sunni-dominated areas, saying it is unfairly targeted by the authorities and security forces, and points in particular to the treatment of women in prisons.

One of the 27 women interviewed by the New York-based watchdog had to walk on crutches because she said she had suffered nine days of beatings, electrical shocks and other forms of abuse leaving her disabled.

HRW reported that that woman was later executed despite a medical report supporting her allegations of torture.

A vast majority of the women prisoners have reported being beaten, kicked, and slapped, given electric shocks, and raped, while others have been threatened with sexual assault, sometimes in front of male relatives.

The women were often arrested either in order to question their male relatives’ alleged support for militants or to harass male family members or the community more generally.

“Iraqi security forces and officials act as if brutally abusing women will make the country safer,” HRW deputy Middle East and North Africa director Joe Stork said in a statement.

“In fact, these women and their relatives have told us that as long as security forces abuse people with impunity, we can only expect security conditions to worsen.”

Human rights groups, analysts, diplomats and lawmakers have become increasingly vocal over alleged abuses, including mass arrests, prolonged periods of detention without trial, the closure of some neighborhoods and detainee abuse.

Analysts say that while most Sunnis do not actively support militant groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a powerful jihadist group, their anger means they are less likely to cooperate with authorities in providing intelligence or handing in suspected insurgents.

“These abuses have caused a deep-seated anger and lack of trust between Iraq’s diverse communities and security forces, and all Iraqis are paying the price,” Stork said.

For more information, please see the following: 

Al Arabiya-HRW: Iraq security forces abuse women prisoners-06 February 2014

Al Jazeera-Iraq slammed for women prisoners abuse-06 February 2014

BBC-Iraqi security forces ‘abuse female prisoners’-06 February 2014

Rudaw-Human Rights Watch: Thousands of Women Suffer Abuse in Iraqi Jails-06 February 2014