June 22, 2005

The Iraq prison scandal TimeMagazine won't cover

By Nidra Poller
The prisoner, a 44 year--old female captured near Baghdad University, was held incommunicado for five months in a dark airless 6 by 12 foot cellar where it was impossible to stand erect.  The prisoner spent her days and nights confined to a mattress, blindfolded, her hands and feet bound.  She was punished if she squirmed too much, forbidden to speak, half--starved, allowed two trips to the toilet per day, one shower per month.  The prisoner testifies that after the first week of solitary confinement, she shared her ordeal with an unidentified male prisoner.  Accused by the guards of trying to communicate, the prisoners were taken out of their cell and beaten.  They made no further attempt to speak to each other.  Neither Amnesty International nor the ICRC nor any other humanitarian organization was allowed to visit the prison. The prisoner was repeatedly 'interviewed' by a high ranking officer whose ingenuous bantering and feigned complicity increased...(Read Full Article)