Human Rights Abuses at U.S. Prison in Iraq, According to British Troops

By Mark O’Brien
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON, United States — British troops spoke out on Monday about human rights abuses of Iraqi detainees by American forces at a secret US detention facility in Baghdad.

British troops claim they witnessed human rights abuses of Iraqi detainees carried out by American soldiers at a secret US facility in Baghdad. (Photo Courtesy of Al Arabiya)

The whistleblowers, who included soldiers and airmen from the Royal Air Force and the Army Air Corps, claimed they witnessed various forms of torture after the US-led invasion in 2003.

“I saw one man having his prosthetic leg being pulled off him, and being beaten about the head with it before he was thrown onto the truck,” one British military officer was quoted as saying in The Guardian.

Other allegations included claims that Americans at Camp Nama—a secret center at Baghdad International Airport—gave Iraqi prisoners electric shocks, brutally beat Iraqi prisoners, and locked them in dog-like kennels.  The prisoners reportedly were routinely hooded before allegedly being subjected to these tortures and were interrogated in sound-proof shipping containers.

“The prisoners were taken into a hangar to be bagged and tagged, a bag put over their heads and their hands plasticuffed behind their backs,” another soldier told The Guardian.  “Everyone’s seen the Abu Ghraib pictures, but I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”

Indeed, these new allegations follow the scandal over abuses at the US-run Abu Ghraib prison, as well as the beating death of civilian Baha Mousa by British forces in 2003.

The Guardian’s investigation highlighted that the joint American-British special forces unit, called Task Force 121, was responsible for detaining Iraqis believed to have information about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction.  No such weapons were ever discovered in Iraq.

“The methods [of abuse] were so brutal that they drew condemnation not only from a U.S. human rights body, but from a special investigator reporting to the Pentagon,” The Guardian reported.

When confronted about the new allegations, Geoff Hoon, Britain’s defense secretary at the time, said he had no knowledge of the secret US camp or anything that may have transpired there.

“I’ve never heard of the place,” Hoon reportedly said when asked about the involvement of British troops in providing support services to help detain inmates at Camp Nama.

Although there is no indication that British troops helped carry out any of the alleged abuses at the camp, Britain’s Ministry of Defense refused to say whether it was aware of concerns about human rights abuses there.

A California-based investigative organization, called Project Censored, estimates that more than one million Iraqis were killed as a result of the US-led invasion and subsequent occupation of the country.

For further information, please see:

Al Arabiya — Baghdad’s Camp Nama: Brutal Prison Torture During Iraq War Revealed — 2 April 2013

Kuwait News Agency — Human Rights Abuses at Detention Centre — 2 April 2013

Press TV — UK Troops Reveal Torture at Secret US-Run Prison in Iraq — 2 April 2013

Daily Mail — British Forces ‘Witnessed Electric Shocks, Beatings and Dog Kennel Torture of Iraqi Prisoners in Secret US Prison in Baghdad’ — 1 April 2013

The Guardian — Camp Nama: Baghdad’s Secret Torture Facility — 1 April 2013

Syrian Revolution Digest: Monday, 1 April 2013

Ah, the Humanity!

No one has rushed to help the people who rebelled, but, in a typical fashion, many have rushed to take advantage of them: ideological groups seeking to reintroduce themselves onto the scene, a former superpower that wants to relive the glory of the old days, no matter how vicariously, neighboring states that saw a chance to fight their brewing domestic wars abroad, and lonely Arab men in search of cheap sex with desperate refugee women. The more things change the more humanity proves to be as screwed up as we always knew her to be.

 

Today’s Death Toll: 146 martyrs, including 5 women, 4 children and 2 martyrs under torture: 55 in Damascus and Suburbs; 31 in Homs; 25 in Idlib; 18 in Aleppo;10 in Hama; 6 in Deir Ezzor; and 1 in Daraa (LCCs).

Points of Random Shelling: 291 points, including 16 points shelled by warplanes, 4 points with Scud missiles, and 3 point using barrel bombs. Thermobaric bombs were used to shell Kafr Zeta and Kafr Nabouda in Hama, and cluster bombs to shell Qara in Damascus Suburbs. In addition, 107 points were shelled with mortar, 98 points with heavy caliber artillery and 60 points with rockets (LCCs).

Clashes: 113. Successful rebel operations included the liberation of a number of buildings in Jobar and Qaboon in Damascus City, targeting the Damascus International airport with rockets, and the headquarters of the 22nd Brigade in Otaibeh with missiles. In Idlib, rebels targeted the reservoirs checkpoint with Grad missiles (LCCs).

 

News

March bloodiest month so far in Syria uprising March was the bloodiest month of the Syrian uprising, with more than 6,000 documented deaths, a pro-opposition human rights group reported Monday. More than one-third of those killed were civilians, including nearly 300 children, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based organization with monitors in Syria.

Historic Damascus synagogue damaged, looted The Jobar Synagogue, in the neighborhood of the same name in northeastern Damascus, is a relic of the area’s once sizeable Jewish population. Tradition holds that the biblical prophet Elisha built the first structure on the site over a grotto in which his teacher, the prophet Elijah, had sought refuge.

Tit-for-tat kidnappings bring Syria’s war into Lebanese backyards In northern Lebanon, the kidnapping of a member of the powerful Shiite Jaafar clan has created yet another arena for Sunni-Shiite tensions fomented by Syria’s unrest.

‘Iran’s Plan B is Alawite State If Syria’s Assad Falls’ A Syrian professor says Iran hopes to fragment Syria and create an Alawite state to maintain power in the region, Today’s Zayman reports.

As Casualties Mount in Syria, Children Tend to the Wounded

Syria accuses rebels of setting fire to oil wells

Syria rebels, regime trade accusations of ‘massacre’

Syrian rebels enter strategic Aleppo neighborhood

Iraq to up searches of Iran overflights to Syria

 

Special Reports

The Kurdish Factor … last week’s reversal in Sheikh Maksoud suggests that Erdogan’s recent overtures to Ocalan are already bearing fruit in his struggle with Assad. Although the Kurdish groups in Syria are not very significant militarily, their cooperation would free the Turkish government’s hands by allowing it to increase its support for the rebels in Syria without fear that the Assad regime could stoke the Kurdish insurgency inside Turkey in response. It remains to be seen whether the Kurds’ newfound cooperation with the rebels in Aleppo is part of a larger realignment by the P.Y.D. But if over the weeks ahead government forces are pushed out of their remaining bases in Kurdish areas, like oil-rich Hasakah in the northeast, then the fall of Sheikh Maksoud on Friday will have marked the beginning of a dramatic shift in Syria’s civil war.

Syria’s Civil War: The Mystery Behind a Deadly Chemical Attack The investigation, when it starts, will be hobbled by the passage of time. According to a chemical weapons expert familiar with such inquiries, who spoke on condition of anonymity over the telephone, the investigating team will examine soil, air and oil samples taken from the blast site. It is unclear whether they will have access to survivors (who probably bear little traces of the chemicals so long after the attack) or to autopsy reports. But initial assessments based upon body counts, photos and video footage taken at the hospital after the attack seem to rule out nerve agents or mustard gas. “Looking at the death rate relative to the number of people exposed, it couldn’t have been a weaponized nerve agent,” says the expert. “And mustard gas rubs off on whoever touches it, but you don’t see the medical personnel taking additional protective measure when they treat the patients. So it’s pretty likely it was something else.”

Syrian Newspapers Emerge to Fill Out War Reporting Mr. Smesem has used the paper to confront the mood of intimidation that he said had infected towns like Binnish, where supporters of the fundamentalist Salafi movement leveraged their success on the battlefield to take over the town council. In one editorial, he criticized changes in the tone of the town’s weekly Friday protests since the Nusra Front began organizing them. The very people who now shouted about killing all the Alawites were once members of the Binnish Coordination Committee who marched every Friday in support of civil society, he wrote. Now Sham editors worry whether the new freedom of expression that has emerged in the areas seized from government control will persist should the Assad government fall.

Brides for ‘Sale’ The offer comes via BlackBerry Messenger: “If you want to marry a beautiful fair young Syrian woman, contact …” and a number is provided. As the conflict in Syria rages on, with no respite in sight, desperation is hitting Syrians hard. And there are many around to take full advantage of it.

My new paper, prepared for a briefing in Washington, D.C. that took place on January 15, 2013, is now out and is titled “Syria 2013: Rise of the Warlords.” It should be read in conjunction with my previous briefing “The Shredded Tapestry,” and my recent essay “The Creation of an Unbridgeable Divide.”

 

Quickly Noted

* Much controversy surrounds what happened to Ghassan Saleh Zeidan, a Druze Elder who went to the town of Hadar to mediate between Sunnis rebels and the local Druze population. On the way there, Ghassan’s convoy was ambushed and he was killed. Both the regime and rebels accused each other of perpetrating the murder, albeit, in practice, the murder serves the regime’s agenda of fomenting conflict between Sunnis and Druzes more than the rebels’ agenda which seeks to entice the Druze to join the revolution. The man speaking here is Ghassan’s brother. He accuses the pro-Assad Druze militias of shooting at their convoy, and names their leaders who were present and ordered the shooting http://youtu.be/0x__lYWHeIY The events took place in Quneitrah Province, where rebels formed a new division under Liwa Al-Tawhid http://youtu.be/Tb5H6Bl-Q2M.

* On Saturday, Syria’s State TV denied reports of Bashar Al-Assad’s death and promised that Assad would address the nation “within hours.” By dawn of Tuesday April 2, Assad is still nowhere to be seen or heard. Rumors of his physical demise might still prove to be false, but the truth of his political irrelevance can now be seen by all.

 

Video Highlights

Aleppo City: Ansari Neighborhood removing the rubble after an aerial raid http://youtu.be/uSOE5MWD0pc Sheikh Maqsoud mass exodus following bombardment of the liberated neighborhood by loyalists http://youtu.be/v2eCTKmK_XA , http://youtu.be/gJpaKIQO4_E A loyalist headquarters in Maksoud after its liberation, the headquarters were used by the Mardel Clan, a small Sunnis ethnic group that has long been coopted by the Assads http://youtu.be/St3w2LlPIFI The pounding of the neighborhood continues http://youtu.be/Ac41IKcg3Pk

Damascus City: regime uses missile launchers to target restive communities in Eastern Ghoutah http://youtu.be/XkRG0q6QJuA Sounds of distant pounding http://youtu.be/z54vHteuqrk Rebels in Otaibeh hunt down a pro-regime sniper http://youtu.be/xA2-tpNj_sU Rebels manufacture their own mortars http://youtu.be/TSE7Gi7h8RQ Homes in Jobar catch fire due to pounding http://youtu.be/pRiLLo1CQd

Damascus Suburbs: rebels from the town of Qarrah dismantle a cluster bomb that failed to explode http://youtu.be/x65sAMggDXI In Daraya, the pounding leave many homes on fire http://youtu.be/cjGviCgCiws

Homs City: the pounding of the neighborhood of Khaldiyeh continues http://youtu.be/lQ2VyS-HzEI

Daraa: the liberation of the province continues with rebels now laying siege to the headquarters of the 46th Regiment in the town of Alma http://youtu.be/ayJfaboPYpQ , http://youtu.be/09kRwYkAKwY , http://youtu.be/4lVLwARGc2E

Idlib: clashes takes place on the outskirts of Maa’arrat Al-Nouman http://youtu.be/-s1xgAfW488 , http://youtu.be/eeDxYEZYxo0 , http://youtu.be/iTQFX-SdGcw

Leaked video shows loyalist soldiers torturing a Sunni scholar http://youtu.be/Fy_b_IXbn7Q Another leaked video from Idlib City shows a local loyalist militia leader cutting the hair of a man and his wife whom he suspected of being sympathetic to the rebels http://youtu.be/B-x3dW_2bcs

Hundreds of Decomposing Human Remains Fished Out of the Yellow River in China Each Year

By Irving Feng
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

LANZHOU, China – Reports say that roughly 100 decomposing human bodies are fished out of the Yellow River every year in and around the city of Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province.

Workers fishing garbage out of the Yellow River in Lanzhou. (Photo Courtesy of South China Morning Post)

A report from a Shanghai newspaper reported that the figure of 100 is actually low, and the most recent statistics place the number of decomposing human remains retrieved from the river closer to 200 or 300 per year.

The report from the Shanghai newspaper is bolstered by “body fishers,” like Wei Jinpeng, who collect the floating corpses along the river so they can display the bodies and sell them back to the families of the deceased.  Wei Jinpeng says the estimate of 100 per year is likely incredibly low given that he alone fishes out roughly 80 to 100 bodies per year.

Body fishing is also an incredibly lucrative trade for those who engage in the business, like Wei Jinpeng, in the city of Lanzhou.  The city’s government has dragged their feet in cracking down on the gruesome trade since issuing a promise to the public to fix the problem back in 2006.

Law enforcement and city officials remain uninterested in the body fishing epidemic despite reports stating that around 5% of the bodies fished out of the Yellow River are results of criminal activity and murder.  Many of the bodies fished out of the river are murdered, female migrant workers.

The dumping of human remains into Chinese rivers has been an ongoing problem for decades, but has recently resurfaced as a controversial issue in international media due to the investigations surrounding the dumping of tens of thousands of pig carcasses in the Huangpu River in Shanghai and dead ducks being dumped into the Nan River in Sichuan province.

The controversy stems from the possibility that the human remains, as well as the animal remains that riddle the Chinese rivers, may be contaminating and polluting the water supply provided by the rivers.  A 2005 Daxia Hydropower Company report suggested that the human remains in the water supply make the water hazardous to drink.

If the bodies are left untreated and decomposing in the rivers, the environmental impact and pollution is much more severe than the regular dumping of household waste into the rivers.   Additionally, in a 2012 investigation, river water is believed to regularly mix with well water which is consumed by humans, but the river water contaminated with human remains makes the water unsafe to drink.

For further information, please see:

The Times of India – Pigs, ducks and now bodies in China river – 2 April 2013

Foreign Policy – Is This a Pandemic Being Born? – 1 April 2013

Forbes – Now In China’s Rivers: Decomposing Humans – 31 March 2013

South China Morning Post – Officials in Lanzhou say bodies floating in river not affecting water quality – 29 March 2013

March Marked Bloodiest Month in Syrian War

By Dylan Takores
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

DAMASCUS, Syria – At least 6,000 deaths occurred in Syria this March, making it the deadliest month since the civil war began two years ago.

Man praying at grave of rebel soldier in Daraa. (Photo Courtesy of Reuters)

The true death toll may be higher than 6,000 because both government and rebel groups frequently underreport actual death totals.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the government and rebels each suffered approximately 1,500 casualties in March.  However, the number of civilian deaths in March outweighed the staggering death tolls for both the opposing armies.  Over 2,000 civilian were reportedly killed, including 298 children and 291 women.  An additional 387 unidentified civilians and 588 unidentified fighters combined to bring the death total above 6,000.

The rise in casualties reflects the growing range of conflict within Syria.  Fighting between rebels and government forces continues to spread beyond major cities such as Damascus, Aleppo, and Homs into other areas of the country.  In particular, violence is rising in the southern provinces of Daraa and Quneitra, along Syria’s borders with Israel and Jordan.

The key battleground in the conflict is the country’s capital, Damascus.  President Bashar Assad stationed his best and most loyal troops there to protect against further advances and reclaim portions of the city occupied by rebels.

In an effort to dispel rebel occupation, government forces sent air raids over rebel and civilian zones on Tuesday.  They shelled the northern Damascus neighborhoods of Jobar, Barzeh, and Qaboun.

However, Assad’s army is not the only force inciting violence.  Rebels in Aleppo recently began an aggressive attack, referred to as “Freeing the Prisoners.”  According to the Aleppo Media Center, the plan is intended to free detainees from the city’s prison by attacking and capturing Kindi Hospital, Ghondol Square, and the central prison.

Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, condemned the international community for its lack of effort in preventing further violence in Syria.  He stated, “If there is no solution, we think the numbers will get worse in the coming months.”

Abdul-Rahman calculated that the total number of deaths since the conflict began two years ago to be 62,554, although he admitted the true total might be twice as many.  The United Nations’ most recent report, issued on February 18, placed the casualty total at 70,000.  The Syrian government has not released any information regarding the death tolls.

 

For further information, please see:

Boston Globe – March was deadliest month in Syrian war – 2 April 2013

The Independent – March was Syrian civil war’s bloodiest month as 6,000 die in conflict – 2 April 2013

Reuters – March was bloodiest month in Syria war: rights group – 1 April 2013

Washington Post – Activists say government warplanes and artillery pound areas in and around Damascus – 1 April 2013