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Iraq
An American soldier, his dog and a detainee at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, 2003, and Human Rights Watch (HRW) logo. Photo: AP, Graphic: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Nearly two decades later, Iraqis who were tortured by US personnel have yet to be compensated or provided with other redress by the US government, a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report said on Monday.
“Twenty years on, Iraqis who were tortured by US personnel still have no clear path for filing a claim or receiving any kind of redress or recognition from the US government,” said Sarah Yager, Washington director at Human Rights Watch.
“US officials have indicated that they prefer to leave torture in the past, but the long-term effects of torture are still a daily reality for many Iraqis and their families,” she added.
Over 100,000 Iraqis were detained by the US and its coalition allies between 2003 and 2009. HRW said that they, along with other organizations, have documented torture and other ill-treatment by the US forces in Iraq.
The Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad was taken over by US forces after their 2003 invasion of Iraq, which overthrew Saddam Hussein. After US forces took over the prison, widespread abuse, torture, and humiliation of Iraqi soldiers at the facility were exposed by Amnesty International and The Associated Press (AP).
“Survivors of abuse have come forward for years to give their accounts of their treatment, but received little recognition from the US government and no redress,” said the HRW report.
Taleb al-Majli, a former detainee of Abu Ghraib told HRW that he was subjected to torture and ill-treatment including physical, psychological, and sexual humiliation while being detained between 2003 and 2005.
“Two American soldiers, one male and one female, ordered us to strip naked, they piled us prisoners on top of each other. I was one of them,” he said.
In 2004, then US President George W. Bush publicly apologized for the “humiliating treatment” of Iraqi prisoners at the US-run prisons vowing to “bring the wrong-doers to justice”. Later on, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told the US Congress that he found a “legal way” to compensate the tortured Iraqis.
“Human Rights Watch has found no evidence that the US government has paid any compensation or other redress to victims of detainee abuse in Iraq, nor has the United States issued any individual apologies or other amends” the report added.
The US has also issued the Foreign Claim Law (FCA), which allows foreign nationals to obtain compensation for death, injury, and damage to property, but the victims have to file a claim within two years from the date of the alleged harm.
HRW said it was unable to find any evidence of payment being made under the FCA as compensation for detainee abuse, which includes torture, “The only case of a Foreign Claims Act payment relating to detention in those documents was for a claimant who was paid US$1,000 for being unlawfully detained in Iraq, with no mention of other abuse,” it said.
HRW also said it had found no public evidence that any US military offices have been held accountable for criminal acts by their subordinates under the doctrine of command responsibility, despite presenting “evidence warranting substantial criminal investigations” of high-ranking officials including Bush and Rumsfeld.
“Every US administration from George W. Bush to Joe Biden has rebuffed efforts for meaningful accountability for torture,” it added.
In August 2022, the Pentagon released a 36-page action plan to reduce risks to civilians in US military operations. The plan, however, failed to include a mechanism for the review of past instances of civilian harm that have gone “unaddressed, uninvestigated, and unacknowledged for 20 years,” HRW said.
“Twenty years on, Iraqis who were tortured by US personnel still have no clear path for filing a claim or receiving any kind of redress or recognition from the US government,” said Sarah Yager, Washington director at Human Rights Watch.
“US officials have indicated that they prefer to leave torture in the past, but the long-term effects of torture are still a daily reality for many Iraqis and their families,” she added.
Over 100,000 Iraqis were detained by the US and its coalition allies between 2003 and 2009. HRW said that they, along with other organizations, have documented torture and other ill-treatment by the US forces in Iraq.
The Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad was taken over by US forces after their 2003 invasion of Iraq, which overthrew Saddam Hussein. After US forces took over the prison, widespread abuse, torture, and humiliation of Iraqi soldiers at the facility were exposed by Amnesty International and The Associated Press (AP).
“Survivors of abuse have come forward for years to give their accounts of their treatment, but received little recognition from the US government and no redress,” said the HRW report.
Taleb al-Majli, a former detainee of Abu Ghraib told HRW that he was subjected to torture and ill-treatment including physical, psychological, and sexual humiliation while being detained between 2003 and 2005.
“Two American soldiers, one male and one female, ordered us to strip naked, they piled us prisoners on top of each other. I was one of them,” he said.
In 2004, then US President George W. Bush publicly apologized for the “humiliating treatment” of Iraqi prisoners at the US-run prisons vowing to “bring the wrong-doers to justice”. Later on, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told the US Congress that he found a “legal way” to compensate the tortured Iraqis.
“Human Rights Watch has found no evidence that the US government has paid any compensation or other redress to victims of detainee abuse in Iraq, nor has the United States issued any individual apologies or other amends” the report added.
The US has also issued the Foreign Claim Law (FCA), which allows foreign nationals to obtain compensation for death, injury, and damage to property, but the victims have to file a claim within two years from the date of the alleged harm.
HRW said it was unable to find any evidence of payment being made under the FCA as compensation for detainee abuse, which includes torture, “The only case of a Foreign Claims Act payment relating to detention in those documents was for a claimant who was paid US$1,000 for being unlawfully detained in Iraq, with no mention of other abuse,” it said.
HRW also said it had found no public evidence that any US military offices have been held accountable for criminal acts by their subordinates under the doctrine of command responsibility, despite presenting “evidence warranting substantial criminal investigations” of high-ranking officials including Bush and Rumsfeld.
“Every US administration from George W. Bush to Joe Biden has rebuffed efforts for meaningful accountability for torture,” it added.
In August 2022, the Pentagon released a 36-page action plan to reduce risks to civilians in US military operations. The plan, however, failed to include a mechanism for the review of past instances of civilian harm that have gone “unaddressed, uninvestigated, and unacknowledged for 20 years,” HRW said.
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