Abu Ghraib prison

Map of Iraq highlighting Abu Ghraib The Abu Ghraib prison or Abu Ghurayb prison is in Abu Ghraib, an Iraqi city 32 km west of Baghdad. The prison was renamed after coalition forces expelled the former Iraqi government, which had called it the Baghdad Central Confinement Facility (BCCF) or Baghdad Central Correctional Facility. The prison came to the notice of the world when an American television network (CBS) publicized several graphic and disturbing photos of Coalition prisoner abuse there. In May of 2004, Camp Avalanche, a tent camp on the grounds of Abu Ghraib for security detainees, changed its name to Camp Redemption at the request of a governing council member. The prison complex was built by British contractors in the 1960s, and covered 280 acres (1.15 km²) with a total of 24 guard towers. The size of a small town, the area was divided into five separate walled compounds for different types of prisoners. Each block contained a dining room, prayer room, exercise area and rudimentary washing facilities. Cells contained up to 40 people in a space four metres by four. By the fall of the government in 2003 these compounds were designated for foreign prisoners, long sentences, short sentences, capital crimes and "special" crimes. During the Ba'athist government, it was known as Abu Ghraib Prison and had a reputation as a place of torture. It was sometimes referred to in the media as Saddam's Torture Central.

Under Saddam Hussein

Under the government of Saddam Hussein the facility was under the control of the Directorate of General Security (Amn al-Amm) and was the site of the torture and execution of thousands of political prisoners—up to 4000 prisoners are thought to have been executed there in 1984 alone. See human rights situation in Saddam's Iraq for a discussion of the context of these events. The section for political inmates of Abu Ghraib was divided into "open" and "closed" wings. The closed wing housed only Shi'ites. They were not allowed visitors or any outside contact. Coalition prisoners were held and tortured in Abu Ghraib during the Gulf War, including the ill-fated British SAS patrol Bravo Two Zero. In 2001 the prison is thought to have held as many as 15,000 inmates. Hundreds of Shi'a Kurds and other Iraqi citizens of Iranian ethnicity had reportedly been held there incommunicado and without charges since the beginning of the Iran-Iraq War. Prisoners were routinely executed. Guards fed shredded plastic to prisoners. There are allegations that some of these detainees were subjected to experiments as part of Iraq's chemical and biological weapons program. An expansion of the prison was underway prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Amnesty International reports give some idea of the scale of the brutality — though researchers admit to being unable to provide a full picture because of the government's secrecy:

• 1994 — More than 150 detainees executed over two days in January

• 1996 — Hundreds of opposition group members executed in November

• 1998 — 60 people executed in June, mostly detainees from 1991 Shia uprising

• 1999 — At least 100 prisoners executed on 12 October

• 2001 — 23 political prisoners, mainly Shia Muslims, executed in October

When Hussein's government fell, the compound was looted by former prisoners.

Under the US-led coalition

One of a series of photos taken by U.S. soldiers of Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib. The hooded prisoner had wires attached to both hands and his penis, and was reportedly told that he would be electrocuted if he fell off the box he was standing on; the wires were not actually electrified. Currently the U.S.-led coalition occupying Iraq utilizes the site as "Camp Redemption", though it remains better known under its original official name. The prison has been used as a detention facility, holding more than 7,000 people, some alleged rebels, some alleged criminals and others free of any such allegations. It was the opinion of senior UK officials that the prison should be demolished as soon as possible, however this was overruled by the US authorities. It is operated by only one battalion, even though army doctrine calls for one battalion per 4,000 enemy soldiers. By contrast the High Value Detainee (HVD) Complex, Camp Cropper, maintains only about 100 detainees, and is also run by a single battalion. In late April 2004, U.S. television news-magazine 60 Minutes II broke a story involving regular torture and humiliation of Iraqi inmates by a group of U.S. soldiers. The story included photographs depicting the torture of prisoners, and has resulted in a substantial political scandal within the U.S. and other coalition countries. For more information see Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse. In May 2004 the US-led coalitition embarked on a prisoner release policy to try to reduce numbers to fewer than 2000. In a May 24, 2004 address at the U.S. Army War College in Pennsylvania, United States President George W. Bush announced that the prison would be demolished. On June 14 Iraqi interim President Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer indicated that he opposed this decision, and on June 21 U.S. military judge Col. James Pohl ruled that the prison was a crime scene and could not be demolished.

See also

• Human rights situation in Saddam's Iraq
• Human rights situation in post-Saddam Iraq
• Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse reports/Gallery

External links

• Map showing location
• The Abu Ghraib Prison Photos – a collection of graphic photos showing torture and humiliation of Iraqi inmates by a group of U.S. soldiers in Abu Ghraib prison, released by The Washington Post, ABC News, The New Yorker, CBS and Global Free Press
• New Prison Images Emerge – The Washington Post May 6, 2004 article by Christian Davenport
• Chain of Command – The New Yorker May 9, 2004 article by Seymour M. Hersh
• Videos Amplify Picture of Violence – The Washington Post May 21, 2004 article by Josh White, Christian Davenport and Scott Higham
• Use of Dogs to Scare Prisoners Was Authorized – The Washington Post June 11, 2004 article by Josh White and Scott Higham

Category:Prisons Category:Torture Category:War on terror de:Abu-Ghuraib-Gefängnis es:Prisión de Abu Ghraib it:Prigione di Abu Ghraib ms:Penjara Abu Ghraib nl:Abu Ghraib-gevangenis fi:Abu Ghraibin vankilan kidutusskandaali zh-cn:虐囚门事件 zh-tw:美英聯軍虐待伊拉克戰俘事件

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