Torture, rape was norm at illegal Iraq prison: report

[Bluebear]

Torture, beating and sodomizing inmates with brooms or pistol barrels were the norm at an illegal prison run by a military unit under the command of the Iraqi prime minister’s office, Human Rights Watch said.

The rights group on Wednesday called for a thorough investigation over the detention center, which was discovered and closed down this month by Iraq’s Human Rights Ministry, and urged Iraq to prosecute those responsible....

The men’s stories were credible and consistent. Most of the 300 displayed fresh scars and injuries they said were a result of routine and systematic torture they had experienced at the hands of interrogators at Muthanna,” Human Rights Watch said.

The detainees said many were handcuffed, blindfolded and hung upside down. Interrogators kicked, whipped and beat them.

Interrogators also placed dirty plastic bags over their heads to close off air supply. When the detainees passed out, interrogators awakened them with electric shocks to the genitals or other parts of the body, Human Rights Watch said.

One detainee, a former Iraqi army general who had been living in London but returned to Mosul after his son was detained, said his jailors refused to give him medicine for his diabetes and high blood pressure, and beat him severely.

“They applied electricity to my penis and sodomized me with a stick,” the man, who is in a wheelchair, told Human Rights Watch. “I was forced to sign a confession that they wouldn’t let me read.”

Another detainee, who was 21, said interrogators threatened to rape his mother and sisters if he did not confess. During one torture session, guards made another detainee rape him.

Another detainee said he was sodomized with a pistol.

http://publicintelligence.net/torture-rape-was-norm-at-illegal-iraq-prison-report/