ICRC Report 3. Treatment during interrogation

ICRC Report 1. Treatment during arrest
1.1 Notification to families and information for arrestees

2. Treatment during transfer and initial custody

ICRC Report 3.Treatment during interrogation
3.1 Methods of ill-treatment
3.2 Military Intelligence section, Abu Ghraib Correction Facility
3.3 Umm Qasr (JFIT) and Camp Bucca (JIF/ICE)
3.4 Previous action taken by the ICRC in 2003 on the issue of treatment
3.5 Allegations of ill-treatment by the Iraqi police

ICRC Report 4. Treatment in Regular Internment Facilities
4.1 General conditions of treatment
4.2 "High Value Detainees" section. Baghdad International Airport

ICRC Report 5. Disproportionate and excessive use of force against persons deprived of their liberty by the detaining authorities

ICRC Report 6. Seizure and Confiscation of Private Belongings of Persons Deprived of Their Liberty

ICRC Report 7. Exposure of Internees/Detainees to Dangerous Tasks

ICRC Report 8. Protection of Persons Deprived of Their Liberty Against Shelling

3. Treatment during interrogation

24. Arrests were usually followed by temporary internment at battle group level or at initial interrogation facilities managed by military intelligence personnel, but accessible to other intelligence personnel (especially in the case of security detainees). The ill-treatment by the CF personnel during interrogation was not systematic, except with regard to parsons arrested in connection with suspected security offences or deemed to have an "intelligence" value.

In these cases, persons deprived of their liberty supervised by the military intelligence were subjected to a variety of ill-treatments ranging from insults and humiliation to both physical and psychological coercion that in some cases might amount to torture in order to force them to co-operate with their interrogators.

In certain cases, such as in Abu Ghraib military intelligence section, methods of physical and psychological coercion used by the interrogators appeared to be part of the standard operating procedures by military intelligence personnel to obtain confessions and extract information.

Several military intelligence officers confirmed to the ICRC that it was part of the military intelligence process to hold a person deprived of his liberty naked in a completely dark and empty cell for a prolonged period to use inhumane and degrading treatment, including physical and psychological coercion, against persons deprived of their liberty to secure their co-operation.

3.1 Methods of ill-treatment

25. The methods of ill-treatment most frequently alleged during interrogation included

* Hooding, used to prevent people from seeing and to disorient them, and also to prevent them from breathing freely. One or sometimes two bags, sometimes with an elastic blindfold ever the eyes which, when slipped down, further impeded proper breathing.

Hooding was sometimes used in conjunction with beatings thus increasing anxiety as to when blows would come. The practice of hooding also allowed the interrogators to remain anonymous and thus to act with impunity, Hooding could last for periods from a few hours to up to 2 to 4 consecutive days, during which hoods were lifted only for drinking, eating or going to the toilets;

* Handcuffing with flexi-cuffs, which were sometimes made so tight and used for such extended periods that they caused skin lesions and long-term after-effects on the hands (nerve damage), as observed by the ICRC;

* Beatings with hard objects (including pistols and rifles), slapping, punching, kicking with knees or feet on various parts of the body (legs, sides, lower back, groin);

* Pressing the face into the ground with boots;

* Threats (of ill-treatment, reprisals against family members, imminent execution or transfer to Guantanamo);

* Being stripped naked for several days while held in solitary confinement in an empty and completely dark cell that included a latrine.

* Being held in solitary confinement combined with threats (to intern the individual indefinitely, to arrest other' family members, to transfer the individual to Guantanamo), insufficient sleep, food or water deprivation, minimal access to showers (twice a week), denial of access to open air and prohibition at contacts with other parsons deprived of their liberty;

* Being paraded naked outside cells in front of ether persons deprived of their liberty, and guards, sometimes hooded or with women's underwear over the head;

* Acts of humiliation such as being made to stand naked against the wall of the cell with arms raised or with women's underwear over the head for prolonged periods - white being laughed at by guards, including female guards, and sometimes photographed in this position;

* Being attached repeatedly over several days, for several hours each time, with handcuffs to the bars of their cell door in humiliating (i.e. naked or in underwear) and/or uncomfortable position causing physical pain;

* Exposure while hooded to laud noise or music, prolonged exposure while hooded to the sun over several hours, including during the hottest time of the day when temperatures could reach 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) or higher;

* Being forced to remain for prolonged periods in stress positions such as squatting or standing with or without the arms lifted.

26. These methods of physical and psychological coercion were used by the military intelligence in a systematic way to gain confessions and extract information or other forms of co-operation from persons who had been arrested in connection with suspected security offences or deemed to have an "intelligence value".

3.2 Military Intelligence section, "Abu Ghraib Correctional Facility"

27. In mid-October 2003, the ICRC visited persons deprived of their liberty undergoing interrogation by military intelligence officers in Unit 1A, the "isolation section" of "Abu Ghraib" Correctional Facility. Most of these persons deprived of their liberty had been arrested in early October.

During the visit, ICRC delegates directly witnessed and documented a variety of methods used to secure the co-operation of the persons deprived of their liberty with their interrogators. In particular they witnessed the practice of keeping persons deprived of their liberty completely naked in totally empty concrete cells and in total darkness, allegedly for several consecutive days.

Upon witnessing such cases, the ICRC interrupted its visits and requested an explanation from the authorities. The military intelligence officer in charge of the interrogation explained that this practice was "part of the process".

The process appeared to be a give-and-take policy whereby persons deprived of their liberty were "drip-fed" with new items (clothing, bedding, hygiene articles, lit cell, etc.) in exchange far their "co-operation".

The ICRC also visited other persons deprived of their liberty held in total darkness, others in dimly lit a cells who had been allowed to dress follo