Shocking details on abuse of
Reuters staffers in Iraq
By Greg Mitchell
New York, New York, May 19 — In the wake of the Abu Ghraib
prison scandal, Reuters revealed on May 18 that three Iraqis working
for the company, and another Iraqi journalist working for NBC News,
were seized for no reason in early January by the US military and taken
to a prison near Fallujah where they were subjected to physical and
sexual abuse, among other forms of mistreatment. The US military has
denied the accusations.
Editors and Publishers (E&P) today obtained from Reuters a report
submitted to the company’s senior editors in mid-January, less
than two weeks after the journalists were detained, by Bureau Chief
Andrew Marshall, who had interviewed the three staffers separately.
The Reuters employees are Salem Ureibi, who has worked for the company
since 1991, mainly as a cameraman; Ahmad Mohammad al-Badrani, who has
worked with Reuters on a freelance basis since July 2003, shooting video;
and Sattar Jabar al-Badrani, a driver.
Marshall observed in his report, “It should be noted that the bulk
of their mistreatment — including their humiliating interrogations
and the mental and physical torment of the first night which all agreed
was the worst part of their ordeal — occurred several hours after
I had informed the 82nd Airborne Division that they were Reuters staff.
I have e-mail proof of this.”
Reuters also made available to E&P about two dozen pages of transcripts
of Marshall’s interviews with the three staffers on Jan. 8.
Here are excerpts from Marshall’s report:
“When the soldiers approached them they were standing by their
car, a blue Opel. Salem Uraiby shouted ‘Reuters, Reuters, journalist,
journalist.’ At least one shot was fired into the ground close
to them.
“They were thrown to the ground and soldiers placed guns to their
heads. Their car was searched. Soldiers found their camera equipment
and press badges and discovered no weapons of any kind. Their hands
were cuffed behind their backs and they were thrown roughly into a Humvee
where they lay on the floor...
“After half an hour to an hour they were transferred to a larger
armored vehicle. Ahmad and Sattar (along with NBC stringer Ali who I
have yet to formally interview) were thrown on the floor under the seats.
...
“Once they arrived at the US base (this was FOB Volturno near Fallujah)
they were kept in a holding area with around 40 other prisoners in a
large room with several open windows. It was bitterly cold. They were
given one blanket between two. All were interrogated separately at different
times and the worst treatment they suffered was on the first night when
for several hours (they believe it was from around midnight until dawn)
all of them were put in a room together and subjected to hours of abuse.
“Bags were alternately placed on their heads and taken off again.
Deafening music was played on loudspeakers directly into their ears
and they were told to dance around the room. Sometimes when they were
doing this, soldiers would shine very bright torches directly into their
eyes and hit them with the torches. They were told to lie on the floor
and wiggle their backsides in the air to the music. They were told to
do repeated press ups and to repeatedly stand up from a crouching position
and then return to the crouching position.
“Soldiers would move between them, whispering things in their ear.
Ahmad and Sattar did not understand what was whispered. Salem says they
whispered that they wanted to have sex with him and were saying ‘come
on, just for two minutes.’ They also said he should bring his wife
so they could have sex with her...
“Soldiers would whisper in their ears ‘One, two, three...’
and then shout something loudly right beside their ear. All of this
went on all night. ... Ahmad said he collapsed by morning. Sattar said
he collapsed after Ahmad and began vomiting.
“...When they were taken individually for interrogation, they were
interrogated by two American soldiers and an Arab interpreter. All three
shouted abuse at them. They were accused of shooting down the helicopter.
Salem, Ahmad and Sattar all reported that for their first interrogation
they were told to kneel on the floor with their feet raised off the
floor and with their hands raised in the air.
“If they let their feet or hands drop they were slapped and shouted
at. Ahmad said he was forced to insert a finger into his anus and lick
it. He was also forced to lick and chew a shoe. For some of the interrogation
tissue paper was placed in his mouth and he had difficulty breathing
and speaking. Sattar too said he was forced to insert a finger into
his anus and lick it. He was then told to insert this finger in his
nose during questioning, still kneeling with his feet off the ground
and his other arm in the air. The Arab interpreter told him he looked
like an elephant...
“Ahmad and Sattar both said that they were given badges with the
letter ‘C’ on it. They did not know what the badges meant
but whenever they were being taken from one place to another in the
base, if any soldier saw their badge they would stop to slap them or
hurl abuse.
“The four were moved about half way through their detention to
another camp. Because they had totally lost track of time by this stage
all are hazy about exactly when this was. But according to an e-mail
I received on the morning of Sunday January 4 from Captain Ryan Derouin,
my point of contact at FOB Volturno who I had met in person there the
day before, they were transferred at around 0900 local time on January
4 to the 3rd Brigade Detention Facility at St. Mere, next to the Volturno
base, for ‘further processing.’
“When they were leaving the first base, soldiers were laughing
and saying ‘Cuba, Cuba.’ Ahmad and Sattar say that they were
initially cuffed and had bags placed over their heads and made to lie
on the ground with barbed wire all around them. They were told that
if they raised their heads or touched the barbed wire it would be very
dangerous for them.
“Ahmad and Sattar say that when they were finally taken into the
second base, they were treated better. They were given adequate bedding
and their interrogation sessions were less intense. Ahmad says at one
point he was allowed to rest in a warm and comfortable tent.
“Salem, Ahmad, and Sattar say that their detention ended when the
numbers they were assigned were called out...”
Source: Editors & Publishers
