Back إساءة معاملة السجناء والتعذيب في سجن أبي غريب Arabic Катаванні зняволеных у турме Абу-Грэйб Byelorussian Tortures a la presó d'Abu Ghraib Catalan ئەشکەنجەدان و ئازاردانی زیندانییانی ئەبووغرێب CKB Abu-Ghuraib-Folterskandal German Βασανιστήρια στις φυλακές Αμπού Γκράιμπ Greek Tortura y abuso de prisioneros en Abu Ghraib Spanish شکنجه و آزار زندانیان ابوغریب Persian Abu Ghraibin vankilan kidutusskandaali Finnish Scandale d'Abou Ghraib French

Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse

Known as The Hooded Man, a prisoner (Abdou Hussain Saad Faleh) being tortured, has become internationally infamous, eventually making it onto the cover of The Economist (see "Media coverage" below)[1][2]

During the early stages of the Iraq War, members of the United States Army and the Central Intelligence Agency committed a series of human rights violations and war crimes against detainees in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. These abuses included physical abuse, sexual humiliation, physical and psychological torture, and rape, as well as the killing of Manadel al-Jamadi and the desecration of his body.[3][4][5][6] The abuses came to public attention with the publication of photographs by CBS News in April 2004, causing shock and outrage and receiving widespread condemnation within the United States and internationally.[7]

The George W. Bush administration stated that the abuses at Abu Ghraib were isolated incidents and not indicative of U.S. policy.[8][9]: 328  This was disputed by humanitarian organizations including the Red Cross, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch, which stated that the abuses were part of a wider pattern of torture and brutal treatment at American overseas detention centers, including those in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and at Guantanamo Bay (GTMO).[9]: 328  There were also 36 prisoners killed at Abu Ghraib due to insurgent mortar attacks, which provoked further criticism due to the facility's location in a combat zone.[10] The International Committee of the Red Cross reported that most detainees at Abu Ghraib were civilians with no links to armed groups.[11]

Documents known as the Torture Memos came to light a few years later. These documents, prepared in the months leading up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the United States Department of Justice, authorized certain "enhanced interrogation techniques" (generally considered to involve torture) of foreign detainees. The memoranda also argued that international humanitarian laws, such as the Geneva Conventions, did not apply to American interrogators overseas. Several subsequent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, including Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (2006), overturned Bush administration policy, ruling that the Geneva Conventions do apply.

In response to the events at Abu Ghraib, the United States Department of Defense removed 17 soldiers and officers from duty. Eleven soldiers were charged with dereliction of duty, maltreatment, aggravated assault and battery. Between May 2004 and April 2006, these soldiers were court-martialed, convicted, sentenced to military prison, and dishonorably discharged from service. Two soldiers, found to have perpetrated many of the worst offenses at the prison, Specialist Charles Graner and PFC Lynndie England, were subject to more severe charges and received harsher sentences. Graner was convicted of assault, battery, conspiracy, maltreatment of detainees, committing indecent acts and dereliction of duty; he was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and loss of rank, pay, and benefits.[12] England was convicted of conspiracy, maltreating detainees, and committing an indecent act and sentenced to three years in prison.[13] Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, the commanding officer of all detention facilities in Iraq, was reprimanded and demoted to the rank of colonel. Several more military personnel accused of perpetrating or authorizing the measures, including many of higher rank, were not prosecuted. In 2004, President George W. Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld apologized for the Abu Ghraib abuses.

  1. ^ Higham, Scott; Stephens, Joe (May 21, 2004). "New Details of Prison Abuse Emerge". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 14, 2011. Retrieved July 7, 2008.
  2. ^ "This Happened—November 4: U.S. Army Image Of Shame". WorldCrunch. November 4, 2022. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
  3. ^ Hersh, Seymour M. (May 17, 2004). "Chain of Command". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on January 1, 2012. Retrieved September 13, 2011. NBC News later quoted U.S. military officials as saying that the unreleased photographs showed American soldiers 'severely beating an Iraqi prisoner nearly to death, having sex with a female Iraqi prisoner, and "acting inappropriately with a dead body." The officials said there also was a videotape, apparently shot by U.S. personnel, showing Iraqi guards raping young boys.'
  4. ^ Benjamin, Mark (May 30, 2008). "Taguba denies he's seen abuse photos suppressed by Obama: The general told a U.K. paper about images he saw investigating Abu Ghraib – not photos Obama wants kept secret". Salon.com. Archived from the original on June 11, 2009. Retrieved June 6, 2009. The paper quoted Taguba as saying, 'These pictures show torture, abuse, rape and every indecency.' ... The actual quote in the Telegraph was accurate, Taguba said – but he was referring to the hundreds of images he reviewed as an investigator of the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq
  5. ^ Hersh, Seymour Myron (June 25, 2007). "The General's Report: how Antonio Taguba, who investigated the Abu Ghraib scandal, became one of its casualties". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on September 12, 2007. Retrieved June 17, 2007. Taguba said that he saw "a video of a male American soldier in uniform sodomizing a female detainee"
  6. ^ Walsh, Joan; Michael Scherer; Mark Benjamin; Page Rockwell; Jeanne Carstensen; Mark Follman; Page Rockwell; Tracy Clark-Flory (March 14, 2006). "Other government agencies". The Abu Ghraib files. Salon.com. Archived from the original on February 12, 2008. Retrieved February 24, 2008. The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology later ruled al-Jamadi's death a homicide, caused by 'blunt force injuries to the torso complicated by compromised respiration.'
  7. ^ Sontag, Susan (May 23, 2004). "Regarding The Torture Of Others". The New York Times Magazine. Archived from the original on September 2, 2017.
  8. ^ Brown, Michelle (September 2005). ""Setting the Conditions" for Abu Ghraib: The Prison Nation Abroad". American Quarterly. 57 (3): 973–997. doi:10.1353/aq.2005.0039. JSTOR 40068323. S2CID 144661236.
  9. ^ a b Smeulers, Alette; van Niekirk, Sander (2009). "Abu Ghraib and the War on Terror - A case against Donald Rumsfeld?" (PDF). Crime, Law and Social Change. 51 (3–4): 327–349. doi:10.1007/s10611-008-9160-2. S2CID 145710956. After the pictures were published the Bush administration was quick to condemn the abuse and accuse the low ranking soldiers who featured in the pictures. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld described the abuse at Abu Ghraib as an isolated case and President Bush talked about: 'disgraceful conduct by a few American troops who dishonoured our country and disregarded our values.' The abuse however did not constitute isolated cases but represented further proof of a widespread pattern.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference med was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ "Abu Ghraib: Iraqi victims' case against US contractor ends in mistrial". Al Jazeera. Retrieved July 26, 2024.
  12. ^ "Graner gets 10 years for Abu Ghraib abuse". NBC News. Associated Press. January 6, 2005. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  13. ^ Dickerscheid, P.J. (June 29, 2009). "Abu Ghraib scandal haunts W.Va. reservist". The Independent (Ashland, Kentucky). Associated Press. Archived from the original on July 10, 2020.

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