April 27, 2010

BAGHDAD // Officials in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul have threatened a campaign of civil disobedience against the government and the army after allegations of torture and abuse at a secret prison controlled by the office of the prime minister, Nouri al Maliki.

More than 400 men from Ninewah province were arrested last year and taken to the makeshift jail at the Old Muthanna military airbase in northern Baghdad.

The authorities in charge of the prison answered directly to Mr al Maliki’s office, but he has denied any knowledge of its existence. The jail was closed last month after an investigation by the human rights ministry, and three army officers have been arrested. More than 100 prisoners have been released and 20 of them returned to Mosul. The rest have been transferred to facilities overseen by the ministry of justice and await trial.

Prisoners have said torture was routine in the jail, including electrocution, suffocation and beatings. A number say they were victims of sexual assaults.

Jabar al Abed Rabu, a senior member of the governing council of Mosul, the administrative capital of Ninewah, said: "These men simply disappeared after being arrested, and we firmly believe they were arrested without the proper legal warrants. It has spread fear throughout the city, the atmosphere is terrible, people don’t trust the government forces any more.

"This type of arrest, these secret prisons must be stopped. If the government doesn’t take immediate action, Mosul will carry out civil disobedience against Baghdad: we will not follow their instructions, we will not obey the Iraqi army."

It was the Iraqi army’s second division, stationed in Mosul, which carried out the detentions during military operations in October. Officials in Baghdad insist all arrests were made in accordance with the law, and that judges in Mosul had issued warrants for all the detainees.

The prisoners were moved to Baghdad only because judges in Mosul complained of being intimidated by insurgents and therefore unable to do their jobs, officials said.

Security in much of Iraq has improved, but Mosul remains highly dangerous, with attacks a regular occurrence. The US military and Iraqi forces have struggled to tackle a persistent insurgency, fuelled by tensions between Ninewah’s Arab and Kurdish populations.

Mosul has a reputation for being fiercely independent and Baghdad’s remit in the city has long been weak, a schism deepened by hostility between Mosul’s Sunni Arab majority and Iraq’s Shiite-dominated government.

The disclosure, first made in the Los Angeles Times newspaper last week, that Baghdad had been operating a secret prison for Mosul detainees has only added to the sense of hostility.

Abdul Rahim al Shammary, the head of Ninewah council’s security and defence committee, said: "It is a dangerous situation; the people of Mosul now do not trust the Iraq forces and they will not co-operate with the Iraqi army any more.

"Everyone knows the prison was being run by al Maliki’s office and we are certain the arrests were made without court orders; the whole thing is totally illegal."

Mr al Maliki said he ordered the centre closed as soon as he was made aware of what was happening there. His critics say it was impossible for him not to have known before, since it was run by a military unit he specifically keeps under his office’s command.

Revelations about the secret prison originally surfaced as a result of family members searching for their loved ones. Unable to find them, they raised the matter with the ministry for human rights, which eventually tracked them to the Muthanna prison. Initially, commanders there refused to grant them access, but later relented. US officials also visited the prison, adding to the pressure that it be closed.

Abu Saleh, a Mosul resident, was among those to have family disappear into the secret jail when his three sons were detained five months ago.

"I had searched everywhere but found nothing, then I heard about this jail and the next thing one of my sons called on the phone and said he had just been released from Muthanna.

"I asked him where his brothers were. He said one was with him in prison, but we don’t know where the other one is. He’s still missing. I’m worried there are other secret jails." Abu Saleh said he now intended to move away from Mosul. "I don’t trust the army here, I’m not having my family stay in this place.

"My eldest son is a lawyer, he’s a good man, and they’ve let him go with no charges against him after five months in that jail. Why was he there?"

Another Mosul resident, Saddam Jabbar, 54, said he lost his brother four months ago and heard nothing until Saturday, when he too had a phone call.

"He was with a relative in Baghdad, they’d just released him from al Maliki’s secret prison without charges," Mr Jabbar said. "I spoke to him, he said he had been mistreated badly, that he’d been sexually abused. I’ve not seen him yet. I hope he is OK."

The prison scandal comes at a time of already heightened tension in Iraq, with continued uncertainly over the shape of the next government after last month’s elections.

Mr al Maliki, the incumbent, was beaten into second place by Ayad Allawi’s Iraqiyya group, according to provisional results, but he has since appealed with some success; ballots are being recounted in Baghdad, with the potential to hand him a victory. Kurdish groups have also called for a recount in Ninewah.

Iraqiyya’s hopes to form the new government have been further hit by a post-election de-Baathification programme, in which one of its elected members were disqualified.

Ninewah province came out in force for Iraqiyya in the election, while Mr al Maliki’s State of Law coalition failed to pick up a single seat, a resounding confirmation of his deep unpopularity there and of the profound divisions that still grip Iraq.

US officials have warned that the prison revelations may further exacerbate sectarian tensions and undermine Mr al Maliki’s hopes of putting together a broad national coalition government in conjunction with Iraqiyya.

- nlatif@thenational.ae