Post by maruf on Apr 22, 2005 11:11:35 GMT -5
SEXUALIZED VIOLENCE AGAINST IRAQI WOMEN
BY
US OCCUPYING FORCES
A Briefing Paper
OF
INTERNATIONAL EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Prepared by
Kristen McNutt, Researcher, Association of Humanitarian
Lawyers
Presented to
The United Nations
Commission on Human Rights
2005 Session
March
Geneva
Contact:
<http://anonymouse.ws/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/mailto:ied@igc.org> ied@igc.org
Iraqi female detainees have been illegally detained, raped and sexually
violated by United States military personnel. Women who stay at home in
traditional roles are more likely to be imprisoned as bargaining chips
by US troops seeking to pressurize male relatives, according to the New
Statesmen (UK)[1]. In December 2003, a woman prisoner, "Noor", smuggled
out a note stating that US guards at Abu Ghraib had been raping women
detainees and forcing them to strip naked. Several of the women were now
pregnant.[2] The classified enquiry launched by the US military, headed
by Major General Antonio Taguba, has confirmed the note by "Noor" and
that sexual violence against women at Abu Ghraib took place. Among the
1,800 digital photographs taken by US guards inside Abu Ghraib there
were, according to Taguba's report, images of naked male and female
detainees; a male Military Police guard "having sex" with a female detainee;
detainees (of unspecified gender) forcibly arranged in various sexually
explicit positions for photographing; and naked female detainees.[3]
The Bush administration has refused to release photographs of Iraqi women
prisoners at Abu Ghraib, including those of women forced at gunpoint to
bare their breasts (although these have been shown to Congress). [4] UK
Member of Parliament Ann Clwyd (L) has confirmed a report of an Iraqi
woman in her 70s who had been harnessed and ridden like a donkey at Abu
Ghraib and another coalition detention centre after being arrested last
July. Clwyd said: "She was held for about six weeks without charge.
During that time she was insulted and told she was a donkey."[5]
The Italian journalist, Giuliana Sgrena, reports that In the middle of
the night, American soldiers broke into the home of Mithal al Hassan
and arrested both her and her son. "The soldiers later ransacked the
apartment. Denounced as part of a vendetta, Mithal was condemned without
trial to eighty days of horror in the company of other women prisoners
who, like her, were subjected to abuse and torture. She has since spotted
her tormentors on the internet." [6] A culture of honor prevents many
women from telling stories of rapes. The account given by "Selwa",
illustrates this. In September 2003, Selwa was taken by US military
personnel to a detention facility in Tikrit, where an American ofï¬cer lit a
mixture of human feces and urine in a metal container and gave Selwa a
heavy club to stir it. She recalls, "The ï¬re from the pot felt very
strong on my face." She leans forward and sweeps her hands through the
air to show how she stirred the excrement. "I became very tired," she
says. "I told the sergeant I couldn´t do it." "There was another man close
to us. The sergeant came up to me and whispered in my ear, `If you
don´t, I will tell one of the soldiers to **** you.´" Selwa could not
continue with the story.[7]An Iraqi girl, Raghada, reports that her mother,
imprisoned at Abu Ghraib, was forced to eat from a toilet and was
urinated on[8].
Iman Khamas, head of the International Occupation Watch Center, a
nongovernmental organization which gathers information on human rights
abuses under coalition rule, has said; "one former detainee had recounted
the alleged rape of her cell mate in Abu Ghraib." According to Khamas,
the prisoner said; "she had been rendered unconscious for 48 hours." She
claimed; "She had been raped 17 times in one day by Iraqi police in the
presence of American solders".[9]
BY
US OCCUPYING FORCES
A Briefing Paper
OF
INTERNATIONAL EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Prepared by
Kristen McNutt, Researcher, Association of Humanitarian
Lawyers
Presented to
The United Nations
Commission on Human Rights
2005 Session
March
Geneva
Contact:
<http://anonymouse.ws/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/mailto:ied@igc.org> ied@igc.org
Iraqi female detainees have been illegally detained, raped and sexually
violated by United States military personnel. Women who stay at home in
traditional roles are more likely to be imprisoned as bargaining chips
by US troops seeking to pressurize male relatives, according to the New
Statesmen (UK)[1]. In December 2003, a woman prisoner, "Noor", smuggled
out a note stating that US guards at Abu Ghraib had been raping women
detainees and forcing them to strip naked. Several of the women were now
pregnant.[2] The classified enquiry launched by the US military, headed
by Major General Antonio Taguba, has confirmed the note by "Noor" and
that sexual violence against women at Abu Ghraib took place. Among the
1,800 digital photographs taken by US guards inside Abu Ghraib there
were, according to Taguba's report, images of naked male and female
detainees; a male Military Police guard "having sex" with a female detainee;
detainees (of unspecified gender) forcibly arranged in various sexually
explicit positions for photographing; and naked female detainees.[3]
The Bush administration has refused to release photographs of Iraqi women
prisoners at Abu Ghraib, including those of women forced at gunpoint to
bare their breasts (although these have been shown to Congress). [4] UK
Member of Parliament Ann Clwyd (L) has confirmed a report of an Iraqi
woman in her 70s who had been harnessed and ridden like a donkey at Abu
Ghraib and another coalition detention centre after being arrested last
July. Clwyd said: "She was held for about six weeks without charge.
During that time she was insulted and told she was a donkey."[5]
The Italian journalist, Giuliana Sgrena, reports that In the middle of
the night, American soldiers broke into the home of Mithal al Hassan
and arrested both her and her son. "The soldiers later ransacked the
apartment. Denounced as part of a vendetta, Mithal was condemned without
trial to eighty days of horror in the company of other women prisoners
who, like her, were subjected to abuse and torture. She has since spotted
her tormentors on the internet." [6] A culture of honor prevents many
women from telling stories of rapes. The account given by "Selwa",
illustrates this. In September 2003, Selwa was taken by US military
personnel to a detention facility in Tikrit, where an American ofï¬cer lit a
mixture of human feces and urine in a metal container and gave Selwa a
heavy club to stir it. She recalls, "The ï¬re from the pot felt very
strong on my face." She leans forward and sweeps her hands through the
air to show how she stirred the excrement. "I became very tired," she
says. "I told the sergeant I couldn´t do it." "There was another man close
to us. The sergeant came up to me and whispered in my ear, `If you
don´t, I will tell one of the soldiers to **** you.´" Selwa could not
continue with the story.[7]An Iraqi girl, Raghada, reports that her mother,
imprisoned at Abu Ghraib, was forced to eat from a toilet and was
urinated on[8].
Iman Khamas, head of the International Occupation Watch Center, a
nongovernmental organization which gathers information on human rights
abuses under coalition rule, has said; "one former detainee had recounted
the alleged rape of her cell mate in Abu Ghraib." According to Khamas,
the prisoner said; "she had been rendered unconscious for 48 hours." She
claimed; "She had been raped 17 times in one day by Iraqi police in the
presence of American solders".[9]