ISIS: Captured Islamic State fighters held in crowded prison
‘They are not human beings’: Scores of suspected ISIS fighters sit crammed inside a jail in Mosul… as Iraqi lieutenant who boasts he ‘sent one captive to Hell’ says they deserve to die
Scores of suspected ISIS fighters are being held in a cramped jail in Mosul amid claims Iraqi troops committed human rights abuses retaking the city.
Pictures show men huddled together on the floor in 45C heat in a prison with no electricity or ventilation to the south of the war-ravaged city, which was recently free from the terror group’s control.
The images, showing young and old suspected jihadists, emerged as an Iraqi lieutenant revealed the thirst for revenge among army ranks and insisted ISIS militants ‘are not human beings.
He also revealed how he interrogated one suspect before ‘sending him to hell’ and insisted ISIS jihadists who brought terror to the country deserved to die.
https://youtu.be/chvxlA9Ny3Y
Scores of suspected ISIS fighters are being held in a cramped jail in Mosul amid claims Iraqi troops committed human rights abuses retaking the city
Pictures show men huddled together on the floor in stifling conditions in a make-shift prison to the south of the war-ravaged city, recently liberated from the terror group
The Iraqi officer who oversees the make-shift jail facility said it currently holds some 370 prisoners.
He says authorities were overwhelmed with detainees as Iraqi forces cleared the last neighborhoods of the city earlier this month at the end of a grueling nine-month campaign.
‘Prisoners are infected with diseases, lots of health and skin problems, because they’re not exposed to the sun,’ he said. ‘The majority can’t walk. Their legs are swollen because they can’t move.’ He said a provincial health team checks on the prisoners ‘occasionally.’
More than 1,150 detainees have passed through the prison over the past three months, with 540 sent to Baghdad for further investigation, the officer said.
Another 2,800 prisoners are being held in the Qayara air base south of Mosul, and hundreds more in a few smaller facilities. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to brief reporters.
Prisoners who were discreetly interviewed by the AP insisted they were innocent. They spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisals.
‘You won’t find 10 real (ISIS members) among these guys. And all of them have spent more than six months here,’ one prisoner said out of earshot of the guards. ‘Since I got here eight months ago, I’ve only seen the sun once.’
He said he was a civil servant and had traveled between Baghdad and Mosul on several previous occasions before being detained.
The Iraqi officer who oversees the make-shift jail (pictured) said it currently holds some 370 prisoners
The images, showing young and old suspected jihadists, emerged as an Iraqi lieutenant revealed the thirst for revenge among army ranks and insisted ISIS militants ‘are not human beings
‘They said my name was in their database. I haven’t seen any court or judge. I don’t even know what I’m accused of. A lot of names are the same,’ he said.
He said two prisoners had died in the packed holding cell. Some prisoners ‘have pus coming out of their wounds. Once they go to the hospital, they come back with amputated legs or arms.’
‘We really want to die,’ another prisoner said. ‘None of us have received any visitors, relatives, family members. They don’t even know where we are.’
The country’s prime minister Haider al-Abadi has acknowledged Iraqi forces committed human rights violations, but insisted that these were ‘individual acts’ for which the perpetrators would be punished.
“They said my name was in their database. I haven’t seen any court or judge – I don’t even know what I’m accused of
ISIS militants were notorious for atrocities, both against civilians and Iraqi security forces, often hunting down anyone connected with the police or military after they overran territory.
And for some Iraqi soldiers, the fight against ISIS in Mosul has been a slow, methodical quest for revenge. For three years, one lieutenant has hunted for two ISIS militants from his village who he believes killed his father.
Along the way, he has shot to death detained militants after interrogating them, he acknowledges unapologetically.
And if he catches either of the men he is searching for, the lieutenant vows he will inflict on him ‘a slow death’ and hang his body from a post in the village after forcing him to reveal where his father’s body is buried.
That sort of thirst for vengeance in the wake of military victories is fueling extrajudicial killings of suspected ISIS members at the hands of Iraqi security forces in and around Mosul.
Videos that emerged last week showed troops in Mosul taking captured ISIS suspects and throwing them one by one off a high wall next to the Tigris River, then shooting their bodies below.
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