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Ex-prisoner comes forward
13/05/2004 13:52 - (SA)
Bagdad - Saddam Saleh al-Rawi says he is the man in the picture, the second naked, hooded Iraqi from the right shown on one of the photographs US soldiers took of detainees being softened up which caused international outrage.
"The American showed me the photograph, pointed to one of the men, laughed and told me: 'It's you'," said Rawi.
A former inmate released from the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in March, Rawi decided a few days ago to travel from his home in the western province of Al-Anbar to testify in Baghdad.
"He is the first former detainee to come to see us claiming he is on one of the photos," said Mohammed Hamid al-Mussawi of the Iraqi Human Rights Association.
"His case seems credible, but we need to investigate to determine whether he was indeed the victim of mistreatment," Mussawi said.
'That's me'
Rawi, 29, pointed to a newspaper carrying one of the infamous pictures, which shows four naked, hooded men. "The second man from the right, that's me," he said.
In front of the detainees, Private Lynndie England, a cigarette dangling from her lips, points to the men's genitals.
A former instructor in ousted president Saddam Hussein's elite Republican Guard, Rawi was Abu Ghraib's prisoner 200144 from December 1, 2003 to March 28, 2004.
He won't say much about why he was arrested, but the claim he was detained is supported by another former prisoner and by his release papers.
Upon his detention, he was immediately transferred to Block A1, the building where the photos were taken. He said he was mistreated and humiliated for 18 days.
"I believe the picture was taken on the first day. I could vaguely see through my hood and I could hear them laughing," he said, referring to soldiers he called Ivan, Nicolai and "the woman," as well as Egyptian translator Abu Hamid.
"I got to know their names. They came to the building very often," he said.
About three weeks after Rawi was jailed, "Nicolai" showed him the picture.
"If the American soldier had not told me, I would not have known," he said.
"But I am now 100% certain. And it's tough to see these pictures on television every day."
'My mother asked me'
Upon his release on March 29, Rawi went to his home in Rawa. "I locked myself up in my room. I didn't want to talk to anybody."
One day, he said, the controversial pictures were shown on the Al-Jazeera Arabic television news network. "My mother asked me: 'Were you tortured like this?' I said no and went up to my room. It was too shameful.
"Then I thought about it. I told myself I had lost my dignity, that I had nothing left to lose, so I decided to come to Baghdad to file a complaint.
"I am not seeking compensation, I just want the soldiers to be judged," he said.
Seven US soldiers have been charged in connection with the Abu Ghraib scandal, three of whom face courts martial.
- AFP
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