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Abu Ghraib prison

Coordinates:33°17′33″N44°03′54″E/ 33.2925°N 44.0650°E/33.2925; 44.0650
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Abu Ghraib prison
Abu Ghraib cell block in 2005
Map
LocationAbu Ghraib,Iraq
Coordinates33°17′33″N44°03′54″E/ 33.2925°N 44.0650°E/33.2925; 44.0650
StatusClosed
Opened1960s
Closed2014

Abu Ghraib prison(Arabic:سجن أبو غريب,Sijn Abū Ghurayb) was aprisoncomplex inAbu Ghraib,Iraq,located 32 kilometers (20 mi) west ofBaghdad.Abu Ghraib prison was opened in the 1950s and served as amaximum-security prison.From the 1970s, the prison was used bySaddam Husseinto holdpolitical prisonersand later theUnited Statesto hold Iraqi prisoners. It developed a reputation fortortureandextrajudicial killing,and was closed in 2014.

Abu Ghraib gained international attention in 2003 followingU.S. invasion of Iraq,when thetorture and abuse of detaineescommitted by guards in part of the complex operated by Coalition forces was exposed.[1][2]

In 2006, the United States transferred complete control of Abu Ghraib to thefederal government of Iraq,and was reopened in 2009 asBaghdad Central Prison(Arabic:سجن بغداد المركزيSijn Baġdād al-Markizī). However, due to security concerns during theWar in Iraq,it closed in 2014. Since all of the 2,400 inmates were transferred to other high-security prisons, the prison complex is currently vacant, and Saddam-eramass graveshave been uncovered at the site.

History[edit]

The prison was built byWesterncontractors in the 1960s. The prison held as many as 15,000 inmates in 2001.[3]In 2002,Saddam Hussein's government began an expansion project to add six new cellblocks to the prison.[4]In October 2002, he gave amnesty to most prisoners in Iraq.[5]After the prisoners were released and the prison was left empty, it was vandalized and looted.[citation needed]Almost all of the documents relating to prisoners were piled and burnt inside of prison offices and cells, leading to extensive structural damage.

Known mass-graves related to Abu Ghraib include:

  • Khan Dhari, west of Baghdad - mass grave with the bodies of political prisoners from Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. Fifteen victims were executed on 26 December 1998 and buried by prison authorities under the cover of darkness.[citation needed]
  • Al-Zahedi, on the western outskirts of Baghdad - secret graves near a civilian cemetery contain the remains of nearly 1,000 political prisoners. According to an eyewitness, 10 to 15 bodies arrived at a time from the Abu Ghraib prison and were buried by local civilians. An execution on 10 December 1999 in Abu Ghraib claimed the lives of 101 people in one day. On 9 March 2000, 58 prisoners were killed at a time. The last corpse interred was number 993.[6]

2003–2006[edit]

Further information:Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse
Map of the prison
US Military Police officer restraining and sedating a prisoner, while a soldier holds him down

From 2003 until August 2006, Abu Ghraib prison was used for detention purposes by both theU.S.-led coalition forcesand the Iraqi government. The Iraqi government has controlled the area of the facility known as "The Hard Site". The prison was used to house only convicted criminals. Suspected criminals, insurgents or those arrested and awaiting trial were held at other facilities, commonly known as "camps" in U.S. military parlance. The U.S. housed all its detainees at "Camp Redemption", which is divided into five security levels. This camp built in the summer of 2004 replaced the three-level setup of Camp Ganci, Camp Vigilant and Abu Ghraib's Tier 1. The remainder of the facility was occupied by the U.S. military.[citation needed]

Abu Ghraib served as both a FOB (Forward Operating Base) and a detention facility. When the U.S. military was using the Abu Ghraib prison as a detention facility, it housed approximately 7,490 prisoners there in March 2004.[7]Later population of detainees was much smaller, because Camp Redemption had a much smaller capacity than Camp Ganci had, and many detainees have been sent from Abu Ghraib toCamp Buccafor this reason. The U.S. military initially held all "persons of interest" in Camp Redemption. Some were suspected rebels, and some suspected criminals. Those convicted by trial in Iraqi court are transferred to the Iraqi-run Hard Site.[citation needed]

Picture of Abdou Hussain Saad Faleh, one of the prisoners subjected totorture and abuseby U.S. guards at Abu Ghraib

In theAbu Ghraib torture and prisoner abusescandal, reserve soldiers from the372nd Military Police Companywere charged under theUniform Code of Military Justicewith prisoner abuse, beginning with an Army Criminal Investigation Division investigation on January 14, 2004. In April 2004, U.S. television news-magazine60 Minutesreported on a story from the magazineThe New Yorker,which recounted torture and humiliation of Iraqi detainees by U.S. soldiers and contracted civilians. The story included photographs depicting the abuse of prisoners. The events created a substantial political scandal within the U.S. and other coalition countries.

On April 20, 2004, insurgents fired 40 mortar rounds into the prison, killing 24 detainees and injuring 92. Commentators thought the attack was either an attempt to incite a riot or retribution for detainees' cooperating with the United States.[8]In May 2004, the U.S.-led coalition embarked on a prisoner-release policy to reduce numbers to fewer than 2,000.[citation needed]The U.S. military released nearly 1,000 detainees at the prison during the week ending August 27, 2005, at the request of the Iraqi government.[9]In a May 24, 2004 address at theU.S. Army War College,PresidentGeorge W. Bushannounced that the prison would be demolished. On June 14 Iraqi interim PresidentGhazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawersaid he opposed this decision[citation needed];on June 21 U.S. military judge Col. James Pohl ruled the prison was a crime scene and could not be demolished until investigations and trials were completed.[10]

On April 2, 2005,[11]the prison was attacked by more than 60 insurgents in the engagement known as theBattle of Abu Ghraib.In the two hours before being forced to retreat, the attackers suffered at least 50 casualties according to the U.S. military. Thirty-six persons at or in the prison, including U.S. military personnel, civilians and detainees, were injured in the attack. The attackers used small arms, rockets, and RPGs as weapons, and threw grenades over the walls. A suicideVBIEDdetonated just outside the front wall afterMarinesfired on it. Officials believe that the car bomb was intended to breach the prison wall, enabling an assault and/or mass escape for detainees. Insurgents also attacked military forces nearby on highways en route to the prison for reinforcement and used ambushes along the roads.Al Qaeda in Iraqclaimed responsibility.[12]

2006–2014[edit]

In March 2006, the U.S. military decided to transfer the 4,500 inmates to other prisons and transfer control of the Abu Ghraib prison to Iraqi authorities.[13]The prison was reported emptied of prisoners in August 2006.[14]The formal transfer was made on September 2, 2006. The formal transfer was conducted between Major GeneralJack Gardner,Commander of Task Force 134, and representatives of theIraqi Ministry of Justiceand theIraqi Army.[15]

In February 2009, Iraq reopened Abu Ghraib under the new name of Baghdad Central Prison. It was designed to house 3,500 inmates. The government said it planned to increase the number up to 15,000 prisoners by the end of the year.[16]

A major prison break occurred on July 21, 2013 when least 500 prisoners escaped. A senior member of the security and defense committee in parliament described the prisoners as mostly those who were "convicted senior members of al-Qaeda and had received death sentences."[17][18]A simultaneous attack occurred at another prison, inTaji,around 12 miles north of Baghdad, where 16 members of the Iraqi security forces and six militants were killed.[18]TheIslamic State of Iraq and the Levant(ISIL) issued a statement on a jihadist forum claiming that they were responsible for organising and executing the prison break, which had taken months of preparation,[17]and claimed that the attacks involved 12 car bombs, suicide bombers and a barrage of mortars and rockets.[17]They also claimed that they killed more than 120 government troops, though the Iraqi authorities claimed that 25 members of the security forces were killed, along with 21 prisoners and at least 10 militants.[17]

Closure[edit]

On April 15, 2014, theIraqi Justice Ministryannounced that it had closed the prison amid fear that it could be taken over by ISIL, which controlled much of Anbar Province at the time. All 2,400 inmates were moved to other high-security facilities in the country. It was not made clear if the closure is temporary or permanent.[19]

Notable detainees[edit]

Notable U.S. military guards[edit]

See also[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toBaghdad Central Prison.

References[edit]

  1. ^"Israeli interrogators 'in Iraq'".BBC News. 3 July 2004.
  2. ^"Ex-Abu Ghraib Interrogator: Israelis Trained U.S. To Use" Palestinian Chair "Torture Device".Democracy Now!.
  3. ^Asser, Martin (May 25, 2004)."Abu Ghraib: Dark stain on Iraq's past".BBC News.RetrievedJuly 26,2018.
  4. ^"Abu Ghurayb Prison".globalsecurity.org.Global Security. 2005.Archivedfrom the original on 8 March 2006.Retrieved2006-03-11.
  5. ^"Saddam sets free political prisoners".the Guardian.2002-10-21.Retrieved2021-05-14.
  6. ^"afhr.org - afhr Resources and Information"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2009-03-26.Retrieved2006-05-30.
  7. ^General (Dept. of the Army), Inspector (2004).Detainee Operations Inspection.DIANE Publishing. pp. 23–24.ISBN1-4289-1031-X.
  8. ^"22 killed in Baghdad mortar attack".USA Today. April 20, 2004.Retrieved2006-03-11.
  9. ^"Nearly 1,000 Abu Ghraib detainees released".CNN. 2005.Archivedfrom the original on 2 March 2006.Retrieved2006-03-11.
  10. ^Moore, John (June 21, 2004)."Judge declares Abu Ghraib a crime scene; forbids razing the prison".USA Today.RetrievedMarch 5,2017– via The Associated Press.
  11. ^114th Army Liaison Team, Base Operation FOB Abu Ghraib Prison 2004-2005
  12. ^Defend America (2005-04-13)."Marines Relate Events of Abu Ghraib Attack".Defend America.Archived fromthe originalon 2007-07-13.
  13. ^"US to transfer Abu Ghraib prisoners".Fairfax Digital. 2006-03-10.Retrieved2008-06-30.Abu Ghraib prison[...]'s 4,500 inmates will be transferred to a new facility at the nearby Baghdad airport military base and other camps. [...] Abu Ghraib, where US soldiers abused Iraqi detainees, will be handed over to Iraqi authorities once the prisoner transfer to Camp Cropper and other US military prisons in the country is finished.
  14. ^Nancy A. Youssef, "Abu Ghraib no longer houses any prisoners, Iraqi officials say",McClatchy Newspapers,26 Aug 2006
  15. ^"Inmates transferred out of Abu Ghraib as coalition hands off control".The Boston Globe.Associated Press. 2006-09-03.
  16. ^Associated Press (2009-01-25)."Abu Ghraib set to reopen as Baghdad Central Prison".International Herald Tribune.
  17. ^abcd"Abu Ghraib Prison Break:Al Qaeda in Iraq Claims Responsibility for Raid".The Huffington Post.2013-07-23.Retrieved24 July2013.
  18. ^ab"Iraq:hundreds escape from Abu Ghraib jail".London: Guardian.co.uk. 2013-07-22.Retrieved24 July2013.
  19. ^Adnan, Duraid; Arango, Tim (April 15, 2015)."Iraq shuts down the Abu Ghraib prison, citing security concerns".New York Times.RetrievedJanuary 15,2016.
  20. ^Leader (18 March 1990)."Farzad Bazoft".The Observer.London.Retrieved3 September2011.
  21. ^Tucker, Michael (2007-02-20)."My Prisoner, My Brother".Vanity Fair.Retrieved2008-06-11.
  22. ^Risling, Greg (May 7, 2008)."Iraqi alleges Abu Ghraib torture, sues US contractors".The Seattle Times.Archived fromthe originalon 2011-06-04.Retrieved2010-02-11.
  23. ^Hettena, Seth (17 February 2005)."Reports detail Abu Ghraib prison death; was it torture?".Associated Press.Retrieved23 June2009.
  24. ^"Source: al Qaeda leader urged affiliate to 'do something'".CNN.5 August 2013. Archived fromthe originalon 22 October 2014.Retrieved21 October2014.
  25. ^"2 U.S. Wives Quitting Iraq".The New York Times.11 May 1995.
  26. ^"Detainees Abused?".CNN.Retrieved6 June2014.
  27. ^"Gulf War ex-POW: Abuse claims horrifying".CNN.3 May 2004.Retrieved27 February2018.
  28. ^Bunden, Mark (10 November 2017)."I don't bear my Iraqi captors ill will, says Gulf War RAF hero".Evening Standard.London.Retrieved27 February2018.
  29. ^Nichol, John (2 May 2004)."I was left bloody and bruised. Now we've become the torturers".The Guardian.London.Retrieved27 February2018.
  30. ^Joshua Eaton:U.S. Military Now Says ISIS Leader Was Held in Notorious Abu Ghraib Prison.In:The Intercept.2016-08-25. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
  31. ^"Roman Krol – TRIAL International".trialinternational.org.Archived fromthe originalon 2016-07-08.
  32. ^"Armin Cruz – TRIAL International".trialinternational.org.Archived fromthe originalon 2016-07-06.
  33. ^"Javal S. Davis – TRIAL International".trialinternational.org.Archived fromthe originalon 2016-07-06.

External links[edit]

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