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US Detaining Handicapped, Juveniles in Mosul: Group
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The rights group dismissed the arrest campaign as arbitrary and indiscriminate.
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By
Salah Amer, IOL Correspondent
MOSUL,
December 4 (IslamOnline.net) - Residents of the northern Iraqi city of
Mosul are gripped by fear following successive pre-dawn US raids on
homes, which saw the mass and indiscriminate arrest of civilians,
including patients with chronic diseases, handicapped and juveniles.
Yasser
Diaa, the secretary general of the Mosul-based Islamic Human Rights
Organization, told IslamOnline.net Saturday, December 4, that the
number of detainees at the airport detention camp doubled in only two
weeks time.
Citing
a statement released by his, he said more than 97 people were detained
in the latest US-backed Iraqi raids on civilian homes in Iraq’s
ethnically diverse city last week.
Indiscriminate
The
local rights watchdog, which is allowed to visit detention camps,
dismissed arrest campaigns as arbitrary and indiscriminate.
Some
of the detainees suffer such chronic diseases as diabetes, high-blood
pressure, heart problems, ulcers and arthritis, it said.
The
group representatives saw several handicapped people in the detention
camp, including one-legged detainee kept in a solitary confinement
under appalling conditions and icy weather.
The
statement also cited the case of four juveniles, who were treated by
the US jailers as adult prisoners and even deported to the notorious
Abu Gharib prison, the scene of an American sexual abuse scandal which
broke
into public view in April.
Vanishing
Detainees
The
Iraqi watchdog also charged that some of the documented detainees
failed to show up at regular prison visits and disappeared in unknown
circumstances.
The
US prison officials said they knew nothing about the vanishing
detainees, it added.
In
a report released in May, Antonio Taguba, the US Army officer who
investigated abuses at the Abu Ghraib, criticized the practice of
allowing ghost
detainees and hiding them from International Committee
of the Red Cross.
A
Pentagon spokesman had before admitted that US Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld personally ordered a secret
detention of an Iraqi detainee without giving him an
identification number so that he can escape the eyes of ICRC teams.
Humiliating
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One Iraqi said his relative was hooded, handcuffed and kicked in front of his wife and children
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Hassan
Mohammad, 35, told IOL how humiliating and degrading the US-led raids
were.
He
recalled the arrest of one of his relatives, who was hooded,
handcuffed and kicked in front of his wife and children.
Mohammad
said the Americans ironically accused his relative of being Abu Musab
Al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born alleged Al-Qaeda operative in Iraq.
Washington
blames phantom Zarqawi for most of attacks on its troops and Iraqi
police and security forces.
Mohammad
added that the US soldiers later threw his handcuffed relative from a
racing truck, leaving him with physical and psychological scars.
Ghanem
Al-Jabouri, another Iraqi, accused US soldiers of holding several
residents as human shields.
He
said the occupation forces take cover in schools and government
institutions to evade resistance attacks.
Other
residents complained their children are terrified by the deafening
sound of US helicopter, always flying at low altitudes.
Deserted
Weddings
The
general gloomy and risky situation in the city has even had its toll
at weddings.
Extended
curfews starting from 17:00 p.m. forces people to hold wedding
ceremonies at midday.
Many
of the invited guests, however, prefer to stay home because life is
too precious to take the risk and go out.
A
US air strike killed at least 12 people Friday, October 8, in the
Iraqi city of Fallujah, with a wedding
party bearing the brunt.
Also,
more than 40 people, including several children, were killed on
Wednesday, May 19, US helicopters bombarded a decorated wedding
vehicle and guests arriving for the celebrations.
The
tragic incident occurred Wednesday, May 19, when U.S. helicopters
killed more than 40 people, including several children, during a
wedding party in western Iraq.
Many
Mosul residents believe that a massive US offensive is looming
large especially after Gen. Foliyah Rashid, the
commander of a special force called in from Baghdad last month to
control the city, said the imminent attack was aimed at flushing out
resistance pockets.
People
were scared off by fear and panic from schools and places of work
despite reassuring calls from Iraqi officials in the city.
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