Abu Ghraib prison

Abu Ghraib prison (Arabic: سجن أبو غريب, Sijn Abū Ghurayb) was a prison complex in Abu Ghraib, Iraq, located 32 kilometers (20 mi) west of Baghdad. Abu Ghraib prison was opened in the 1950s and served as a maximum-security prison. From the 1970s, the prison was used by Saddam Hussein to hold political prisoners and later the United States to hold Iraqi prisoners. It developed a reputation for torture and extrajudicial killing, and was closed in 2014.

Abu Ghraib prison

Abu Ghraib cell block in 2005
Location	Abu Ghraib, Iraq
Coordinates	33°17′33″N 44°03′54″E / 33.2925°N 44.0650°E / 33.2925; 44.0650
Status	Closed
Opened	1960s
Closed	2014

Abu Ghraib gained international attention in 2003 following U.S. invasion of Iraq, when the torture and abuse of detainees committed 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 the federal government of Iraq, and was reopened in 2009 as Baghdad Central Prison (Arabic: سجن بغداد المركزي Sijn Baġdād al-Markizī). However, due to security concerns during the War 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-era mass graves have been uncovered at the site.

History

The prison was built by Western contractors 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

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 the U.S.-led coalition forces and 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 to Camp Bucca for 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 to torture and abuse by U.S. guards at Abu Ghraib

In the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal, reserve soldiers from the 372nd Military Police Company were charged under the Uniform Code of Military Justice with prisoner abuse, beginning with an Army Criminal Investigation Division investigation on January 14, 2004. In April 2004, U.S. television news-magazine 60 Minutes reported on a story from the magazine The 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 the U.S. Army War College, President George W. Bush announced that the prison would be demolished. On June 14 Iraqi interim President Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer said 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 the Battle 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 suicide VBIED detonated just outside the front wall after Marines fired 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 Iraq claimed responsibility.^[12]

2006–2014

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 General Jack Gardner, Commander of Task Force 134, and representatives of the Iraqi Ministry of Justice and the Iraqi 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, in Taji, around 12 miles north of Baghdad, where 16 members of the Iraqi security forces and six militants were killed.^[18] The Islamic 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

On April 15, 2014, the Iraqi Justice Ministry announced 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

• Farzad Bazoft^[20]
• Yunis Khatayer Abbas^[21]
• Emad al-Janabi^[22]
• Manadel al-Jamadi^[23]
• Abu Abdulrahman al-Bilawi^[24]
• Bill Barloon^[25]
• Thahe Mohammed Sabbar^[26]
• John Nichol, a Royal Air Force navigator shot down and captured by Iraqi forces during Operation Desert Storm^[27][28][29]
• Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, born Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim al-Badry, who would later become the leader of the IS from May 2010 until his death on October 26, 2019.^[30]
• Ali Shallal al-Qaisi

Notable U.S. military guards

• Lynndie England
• Sabrina Harman
• Charles Graner
• Ivan Frederick
• Jeremy Sivits
• Roman Krol^[31]
• Armin Cruz^[32]
• Javal Davis^[33]

See also

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Baghdad Central Prison.

•  Iraq portal
•  Law portal

• Human rights in Saddam Hussein's Iraq
• Human rights in post-Saddam Iraq
• Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse
• U.S. prison operations in Iraq

References

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. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
4. "Abu Ghurayb Prison". globalsecurity.org. Global Security. 2005. from the original on 8 March 2006. Retrieved 2006-03-11.
5. "Saddam sets free political prisoners". the Guardian. 2002-10-21. Retrieved 2021-05-14.
6. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-03-26. Retrieved 2006-05-30.
7. General (Dept. of the Army), Inspector (2004). Detainee Operations Inspection. DIANE Publishing. pp. 23–24. ISBN 1-4289-1031-X.
8. "22 killed in Baghdad mortar attack". USA Today. April 20, 2004. Retrieved 2006-03-11.
9. "Nearly 1,000 Abu Ghraib detainees released". CNN.com. 2005. from the original on 2 March 2006. Retrieved 2006-03-11.
10. Moore, John (June 21, 2004). "Judge declares Abu Ghraib a crime scene; forbids razing the prison". USA Today. Retrieved March 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). . Defend America. Archived from the original on 2007-07-13.
13. "US to transfer Abu Ghraib prisoners". Fairfax Digital. 2006-03-10. Retrieved 2008-06-30. 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. "Abu Ghraib Prison Break:Al Qaeda in Iraq Claims Responsibility for Raid". The Huffington Post. 2013-07-23. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
18. "Iraq:hundreds escape from Abu Ghraib jail". London: Guardian.co.uk. 2013-07-22. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
19. Adnan, Duraid; Arango, Tim (April 15, 2015). "Iraq shuts down the Abu Ghraib prison, citing security concerns". New York Times. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
20. Leader (18 March 1990). "Farzad Bazoft". The Observer. London. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
21. Tucker, Michael (2007-02-20). "My Prisoner, My Brother". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2008-06-11.
22. Risling, Greg (May 7, 2008). . The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on 2011-06-04. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
23. Hettena, Seth (17 February 2005). "Reports detail Abu Ghraib prison death; was it torture?". Associated Press. Retrieved 23 June 2009.
24. . CNN. 5 August 2013. Archived from the original on 22 October 2014. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
25. "2 U.S. Wives Quitting Iraq". The New York Times. 11 May 1995.
26. "Detainees Abused?". CNN. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
27. "Gulf War ex-POW: Abuse claims horrifying". CNN. 3 May 2004. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
28. Bunden, Mark (10 November 2017). "I don't bear my Iraqi captors ill will, says Gulf War RAF hero". Evening Standard. London. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
29. Nichol, John (2 May 2004). "I was left bloody and bruised. Now we've become the torturers". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
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. . trialinternational.org. Archived from the original on 2016-07-08.
32. . trialinternational.org. Archived from the original on 2016-07-06.
33. . trialinternational.org. Archived from the original on 2016-07-06.

External links

• The Prisoner or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair, a documentary about the imprisonment and abuse of one Iraqi journalist, Yunis Khatayer Abbas, and his two brothers at Abu Ghraib prison.
• Standard Operating Procedure (film)