قالت منظمة هيومن رايتس ووتش المعنية بمراقبة حقوق الإنسان إن قوات النخبة الأمنية الخاضعة لإدارة المكتب العسكري لرئيس وزراء حكومة المنطقة الخضراء تدير مركز اعتقال سري في العاصمة بغداد. واضافت المنظمة ان تلك القوات تقوم بتعذيب المعتقلين في موقع آخر لا يخضع لأية مراقبة مشيرة الى ان السلطات العراقيّة قامت بنقل أكثر من 280 معتقلا إلى موقع سري يقع داخل معسكر العدالة شمال غرب بغداد. وكشفت المنظمة ان الموقع السري يخضع لإدارة كل من لواء بغداد وجهاز مكافحة الإرهاب وكلاهما يخضعان لمكتب نوري المالكي. وقال جو ستورك نائب مدير قسم الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا في المنظمة إن الكشف عن وجود سجون سرية في قلب بغداد يناقض كليا وعود الحكومة العراقية باحترام حكم القانون مشيرا إلى ضرورة أن تقوم الحكومة بغلق هذه المواقع وإخضاعها لإدارة النظام القضائي وتحسين ظروف الاعتقال فيها ومعاقبة كلّ من كانت له يد في ارتكاب أعمال تعذيب.
Iraq: Secret Jail Uncovered in Baghdad | Human Rights Watch
Detainees Describe Torture at Another Facility Also Run by Elite Security Forces
(Baghdad) – Elite security forces controlled by the military office of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of Iraq are operating a secret detention site in Baghdad, Human Rights Watch said today. The elite forces are also torturing detainees with impunity at a different facility in Baghdad, Human Rights Watch said.
Beginning on November 23, 2010, and continuing over the next three to four days, Iraqi authorities transferred more than 280 detainees to a secret site within Camp Justice, a sprawling military base in northwest Baghdad, interviews and classified government documents obtained by Human Rights Watch reveal. The Army’s 56th Brigade, also known as the Baghdad Brigade, and the Counter-Terrorism Service, both under the authority of the prime minister’s office, control this secret site. The hurried transfers took place just days before an international inspection team was to examine conditions at the detainees’ previous location at Camp Honor in the Green Zone. Human Rights Watch has also obtained a list of more than 300 detainees held at Camp Honor just before the transfer to Camp Justice. Almost all were accused of terrorism.
"Revelations of secret jails in the heart of Baghdad completely undermine the Iraqi government’s promises to respect the rule of law," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "The government needs to close these places or move them under control of the justice system, improve conditions for detainees, and make sure that anyone responsible for torture is punished."
The Iraqi government should immediately close the facilities or regularize their position and make them open for inspections and visits, Human Rights Watch said.
Approximately 80 of the 280 detainees are being held by the 56th Brigade at the secret site at Camp Justice and have had no access to lawyers or family members. Prison inspectors are not permitted to conduct visits to the section of the facility controlled by the 56th brigade, prompting fresh concerns that the brigade may be torturing detainees. According to government sources, the Counter-Terrorism Service is holding the 200 remaining transferred detainees, although the 56th Brigade maintains primary responsibility for security at the site in Baghdad’s Kadhmiya neighborhood.
In one of the 18 documents obtained by Human Rights Watch, a letter from the prosecutor’s office of the Higher Judicial Council asks the Office of the Prime Minister to instruct officials at the Camp Justice site to stop preventing prison inspectors and relatives from visiting detainees. The letter, dated December 6, 2010, says such a refusal "meets neither legal nor humanitarian standards, unless [the refusal is] specifically ordered by a judge at a specialized court."A second letter, dated January 13, 2011, from the justice minister to the Office of the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, through which the prime minister controls Iraqi security forces, stated that a 56th Brigade officer prevented prison inspectors from the Human Rights Ministry from visiting the site.
The secret detention site is located within a legitimate Justice Ministry detention facility at Camp Justice, known as Justice 2 (Sijn al-Adaleh 2), which holds just over 1,000 other detainees. Camp Justice is the site of the former "Fifth Department" (al-Sha’ba al-Khamsa) intelligence office notorious during the rule of Saddam Hussein for torture and disappearances. The former dictator was executed there in 2006.
Camp Honor, from which the detainees were transferred, became the subject of media scrutiny on January 23, after the Los Angeles Times uncovered abuse there and described the conditions as "miserable." The article said detainees were held in cramped windowless cells that reeked of human excrement.
Recent interviews by Human Rights Watch of more than a dozen former detainees from Camp Honor had documented how detainees are held incommunicado and in inhumane conditions, often for months at a time. Detainees described in detail the wide ranging abuses they endured during interrogation sessions at the facility, usually to extract false confessions. They said interrogators beat them, hung them upside down for hours at a time, administered electric shocks to various body parts, including the genitals, and asphyxiated them repeatedly with plastic bags put over their heads until they passed out.
In interviews with Human Rights Watch in December, former detainees described the abuse at Camp Honor:
- One detainee said on December 26 that: "The cell was so crowded that we had to take turns standing and lying down, and would try to let someone lie down if they were an old man, or especially if they had just been brought back from interrogation. Then we usually could not stand."
- Another said on December 18 that: "I was blindfolded and put on the floor, face-down with my hands tied tightly behind my back. The interrogator stepped on my arms, and put more and more weight down on them until I was screaming."
- A third detainee, who had been held in Camp Honor the summer of 2010, said in a December 27 interview that: "My hands were tied over my head and my feet were put in water, then they shocked me in my head and my neck and my chest. The interrogators beat me repeatedly and told me that they would go to my house and rape my sister if I did not sign a confession, so I did. I did not even know what I was confessing to."
In response to the Los Angeles Times article, which said Camp Honor is run by the 56th Brigade and the Counter-Terrorism Service, Iraq’s deputy justice minister, Busho Ibrahim, told Agence France-Presse on January 24 that his ministry alone controlled the site.
"It is my responsibility, and I deny all these accusations – they are all lies," he said. "Families can visit their sons or husbands, lawyers can visit them regularly. It’s like any other prison run by the Justice Ministry."
He reiterated, "It is not true that it follows Maliki’s orders – it is run by the Justice Ministry."
However, documents obtained by Human Rights Watch refute government claims that Camp Honor is controlled by the Justice Ministry. In one classified document dated August 2, 2010, the former justice minister, Dara Nour al-Din, requested that his staff obtain approval from the Office of the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces to transfer detainees from Camp Honor, demonstrating the ministry’s subordinate role at the facility.
In the note to his staff, the justice minister asks them to write a letter to the Office of the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces "requesting permission for custody of the prisoners to be turned over" to the ministry so they can be transferred elsewhere. The document indicates that the issue arose after Deputy Justice Minister Ibrahim acknowledged that his ministry could not transfer detainees due to external interference, particularly from military interrogators.
Another document, from October 2010, signed by Ibrahim himself, says the ministry "has no objection to allowing lawyers and families to visit detainees" at Camp Honor but that, "it is only the tough security measures implemented by the Defense Ministry/56th Brigade section [of the prison] and the Counter-Terrorism administration section, and also the location of the prison in the Green Zone, that has prevented this."
In response to the Los Angeles Times article, Ibrahim also said that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had visited the Camp Honor prison. But when contacted by Human Rights Watch, the ICRC spokesperson, Graziella Leite Piccolo, said that ICRC had not been able to visit Camp Honor because the government had not met the organization’s criteria for such site visits, including access to the entire facility and its detainees.
"It is important to note that, even if we had been able to visit, a visit alone is not a certificate of validation, but part of a process," she said. Government sources told Human Rights Watch that authorities have prevented the Human Rights Ministry from conducting any prison inspections at Camp Honor for more than a year.
Several government sources said that although the 56th Brigade, and its sibling, the 54th Brigade, technically fall under Defense Ministry administration, the brigades’ chain of command bypass the ministry. They do not report to the defense minister or army chief of staff, but instead to Maliki through the Office of the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. Through this office, the prime minister also controls the Counter-Terrorism Service, which falls under no ministry and is not governed by any legislation. The Counter-Terrorism Service works closely with US Special Forces.
Military officers and officials from both the Defense and Interior ministries told Human Rights Watch that the 56th Brigade and the Counter-Terrorism Service routinely conduct operations, including mass arrests and detentions, without notifying the security ministries. A high-level Interior Ministry officer told Human Rights Watch on December 18 that these units "create confusion and a dangerous atmosphere where special units who have a separate authority storm in and take people." The official said that regular security forces were afraid of these elite forces.
Another official, from the Defense Ministry, told Human Rights Watch on January 23 that contrary to the usual practice, in which security forces process detainees through the main prison system, the 56th and 54th Brigades often refuse to give up their prisoners.
"Their families and lawyers cannot visit them," he said, "and sometimes cannot even find out if they are dead or alive."
Defense Ministry officials interviewed by Human Rights Watch said there is close cooperation between the 56th and 54th Brigades, commonly referred to by military and police as "Maliki’s forces." Prisoners arrested and initially held in the prison run by one brigade are often transferred to the prison run by the other.
An Interior Ministry official told Human Rights Watch on January 13 that "people come to police stations or prisons looking for their family members who have been arrested. If we find out they were taken by Maliki’s forces, we don’t get any information about them or have jurisdiction to do anything."
Last year, the Human Rights Ministry uncovered a secret prison run by the 54th Brigade, with the assistance of the 56th Brigade, in the old Muthanna airport in Western Baghdad. In April, Human Rights Watch interviewed 42 detainees who had been tortured at this facility over a period of months. The secret prison held about 430 detainees who had no access to their families or lawyers. The prisoners said security forces personnel kicked, whipped, and beat them, asphyxiated them, gave them electric shocks, burned them with cigarettes, and pulled out their fingernails and teeth. They said that interrogators sodomized some detainees with sticks and pistol barrels. Some young men said they had been forced to perform oral sex on interrogators and guards, and that interrogators forced detainees to molest one another sexually.
A US Embassy cable viewed by the Los Angeles Times stated that 56th Brigade interrogators had been sent to Muthanna from Camp Honor. A separate cable said the brigade "reports directly to the prime minister’s office."
At the time, Maliki described the prison at Muthanna as a transit site under the control of the Defense Ministry.
However, a high-ranking Defense Ministry official distanced his ministry from the allegations of torture at Muthanna. In a classified letter to the Human Rights Ministry dated May 3, 2010, and seen by Human Rights Watch, Saleh Sarhan, general secretary to the defense minister, wrote: "Our ministry has no relationship with those military investigation committees nor to the Sur Ninewa [Muthanna] Detention Center, because both are attached to the Office of the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces."
Iraq: the most dangerous place on earth for journalists
Since 2003, persecuted reporters facing new threats to freedom of expression
Hot-headed and buoyed by youthful defiance, Sardasht Osman ignored the death threat texts on his phone and his family’s pleas to tone down his articles criticising the Kurdish regional government. In a piece entitled "Farewell", he said he was prepared to meet his killers. "I fear neither death nor torture," he wrote. "Whatever happens, I will not leave this city, and I will wait for my own death." It was his last article.
The 23-year-old was heading into the University of Salahaddin in Erbil when he was grabbed by two men in a crowded area full of armed guards and bundled into a car, his books left strewn in the street. Two days later, his battered body was found 50 miles away in Mosul outside the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) headquarters. He had two bullet wounds through the mouth, a symbolic punishment for someone who has spoken out.
Across Kurdistan tomorrow, protests will mark the 40th day, a traditional mourning interval, since Mr Osman’s body was found. The murder – the third in two years – has sent a shock wave through the journalistic community, said Kamal Rauf, the editor-in-chief of the region’s largest independent paper, Hawlati. "Three of my reporters have resigned. They say they are not scared but their families are," he said. It has also led to an unprecedented surge of protest, with journalists, students, academics and civil rights campaigners marching under the banner "We Will Not Be Silenced".
Ever since the US-led invasion of 2003, Iraq has been the most dangerous country in the world to be a journalist. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says that 89 have been murdered and a further 50 have died in crossfire or other acts of war. Some 117 of the dead journalists, were Iraqi. The CPJ says that Iraq holds the world record for journalists murdered with impunity; nobody has ever been prosecuted for any of the killings.
But, some argue, the threat to freedom of expression in Iraq is changing. Fewer journalists are dying today than a few years ago but journalism itself is beginning to expire under relentless official pressure. The government sees media which criticise it as the propaganda organs for opposition parties or foreign countries.
"The real danger to journalism is not killings and kidnappings but the clampdown by the authorities," says Ziad al-Ajili, the head of Journalistic Freedom Observatory, a Baghdad-based media rights organisation.
The JFO, whose office is protected by heavy metal doors, methodically records and protests against the assaults, harassment and detention of reporters by the security forces as well as raids on media outlets and their closure. Its last annual report lists 262 different types of attacks, almost all of them by the state security forces.
Mr Ajili says this growing persecution is effective: "The Iraqi media no longer dare to expose scandals. It was the foreign media which exposed the secret government prison at the old al-Muthanna airport in Baghdad where prisoners were being tortured. Iraqi journalists would not have dared."
Under Saddam Hussein, the media was tightly controlled by the Ministry of Information, though attacks on corruption were sometimes allowed. Terrified journalists were summoned to meet Uday, Saddam’s eldest son, for praise or imprisonment depending on his mood. Yet officials paid attention to what appeared in the media. Mr Ajili says that today the government’s priority is to eliminate all coverage of "mismanagement and corruption".
It is not only television stations and newspapers that are targeted. In February, security and military forces raided three publishing houses in Baghdad and confiscated a 16-page booklet, Where Has Iraq’s Money Gone? covering financial and administrative corruption. They arrested six staff and reporters were prevented from entering the publishers for several days.
Restrictions on the media are increasing. Reporters are meant to obtain a permit to cover any violent incident. Even when permission is granted, local security forces often beat or arrest reporters, or smash their equipment. The purpose of this is to downplay the level of violence which, while much lower than three years ago, is higher than in most of the rest of the world.
Regulation and control of the media is in the hands of the National Communications and Media Commission. This has unlimited power to close broadcasters and newspapers, confiscate equipment, withdraw licenses and impose fines. Just before the March elections, the commission declared that all journalists must have permits and must pledge "not to incite sectarianism". This might include something as simple as publishing the number of victims of a bombing, figures which the government tries to minimise.
While new threats are weighing on journalists, the old dangers have not gone away. Yasin al-Fadhawi in Anbar, west of Baghdad, found a bomb the size of a football outside the door of his home last summer, two days after his magazine published an article about allegedly corrupt dealings between the government and tribal chiefs. He fled his home and went into hiding. Along with 43 other journalists in Anbar who consider themselves under threat, Mr al-Fadhawi wanted a gun to protect himself but could nor get a permit.
Imad al-Ebad, an investigative journalist at a television station in Baghdad, had just got out of his car to meet a contact when he was shot four times in the head. Astonishingly, Mr Ebadi survived. He had just enough strength to get back into his car before he passed out for 10 minutes. His would-be murderer must have thought he was dead, but Mr Emadi revived and drove, bleeding profusely, across Baghdad to his television station. "As I passed through army and police checkpoints they saw I was hit but they did nothing," he says.
His colleagues took him to hospital in Baghdad where he stayed for 10 days before spending two months recuperating in a hospital in Germany. He fingers the scars on his neck where one bullet hit him and bows his head to show where hair is beginning to cover his other wounds. He does not know exactly who attacked him or why, but he assumes it was in retaliation for his investigation of government corruption. "As well as my television work, I was writing articles on corruption and scandals in the Prime Minister’s office," he says. "I had received threatening phone calls and text messages saying: "You are nothing. We will kill you."
Extract from Sardasht Osman’s ‘Farewell’
"In the last few days I was told for the first time that there isn’t much left of your life. To put it in their own words I have no permission to breathe in this city but I fear neither death nor torture. I am waiting for … my killers. I pray that they grant me a tragic death which deserves my tragic life…. I want them to understand that what scares us is not death but the continuation of such days for our next generation…. The tragedy is the authorities don’t care about the death of the generations…. Whatever happens I will not leave this city, and I will wait for my own death. I know this is the first bell ring for my death but at the end it will become a ring bell for the youth in my society"
Iraq: the most dangerous place on earth for journalists – Middle East, World – The Independent
5th-May-2010 Selected English Language Coverage
There are no prizes for guessing what the main story of the day in the English language coverage of Irak was, :-) but that wasn’t all that happened. We found a story on the how trade unions are trying to get a labour protection law passed, things are not as rosy with Turkey as the the KRG would have you believe, the South Oil Company is massively ramping up their security, (there’s no mention of the massive Ajil oil refinery fire in the north). The Guardian’s, Nicky Woolf thinks that KRG is on its way to being the next Dubai, and Hadi Ditmars writes about returning to Baghdad after seven years away.
There is no mention either of the progress of the negotiations between the Arab bloc and the Kurds over Mosul – the governor is pleased with progress. (What is missing from English language coverage of events here is as fascinating to me as what they do cover).
Nur
The Day In Quotes:
- Hajim al-Hassani spokesman for Maliki’s State of Law coalition on Allawi’s narrowing options. “In the end, the nominee for prime minister will be from the alliance. I think Iraqiya will realize that in the end the only choice is to be part of the new government.”
Source: Shiite Blocs Join, Ensuring Dominance in Iraq – NYTimes.com:
- Brigadier-General Moussa Abdelhassan, head of police for the Southern Oil Company on the drive to provide saftety for oil companies
"We removed thousands of mines and cluster bombs that were left in the oil fields in order to be able to dig and repair the wells and extend the network of oil pipelines here"Source: Iraq takes extra security measures to protect oil fields
Human Rights:
Iraqi workers standing up for their rights:
Nearly seven years after the fall of the Saddam’s regime, many of its laws continue to apply, making it impossible for Iraqi trade unions to organise and bargain on behalf of their members. Workers in the public sector can not join unions, trade union assets have been frozen by the Government, and governmental authorities have attempted to take over trade unions. These laws are undermining the immense contribution democratic and independent trade unions can make to Iraq’s fledgling democracy.
While several versions of a new labour code have been drafted, political opposition and a gridlocked Parliament has seen them only gather dust.
In response workers and unions from across the country – from Basra to Iraqi Kurdistan – have come together to urge the government to put in place labour law. In spite of tremendous personal risk, the campaign is also a pioneering effort in bridging religious, political, ethnic and geographic divides.
Politics and Security
Iraq’s two major Shiite blocs form new coalition: Xinhua
BAGHDAD, May 4 (Xinhua) — The State of Law alliance led by Iraqi incumbent Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and the Iraqi National Alliance (INA) have formed a coalition, according to a statement released on late Tuesday.
"The two alliances reached an agreement to form a parliamentary bloc," said INA official Abdul-Razzak al-Kazimi at a press conference in Baghdad, adding "the alliance was a major step and would open to other Iraqi national forces."
The new alliance was "determined to provide all the requirements for the success of the political process and to build an effective parliamentary system," said the official while reading the statement.
According to initial results, the State of Law won 89 seats and the Iraqi National Alliance got 70 in the recent parliamentary elections. After combined, the two have 159 seats, very close to the needed 163 seats to form the new government.
Al-Kazimi said the newly formed alliance vowed to name a prime minister committed to this program and pledged to promote an " institutional building of the state and the effective and constructive role of Iraq at the Arab, Islamic and international levels," the official said.
Iraq’s Shiites try to form new government: Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion
The coalition deal was announced at a news conference, but the question of who would be prime minister could threaten to derail their plans to form a government.
“Despite the challenges and the risks, both coalitions have agreed to announce the formation of a single parliamentary bloc,” said Abdul-Razaq al-Kazemi of the Iraqi National Alliance.
Al-Kazemi, who took no questions from reporters, was flanked by officials from State of Law and the movement of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose followers make up the strongest group in the Iraqi National Alliance.read in full: (emphasis added).
DAWN.COM | World | Iraq deal gives clerics final say: Report:
BAGHDAD: An agreement signed by the two main Iranian-backed Shia blocs seeking to govern Iraq gives the final decision on all their political disputes to top Shia clerics, according to a copy obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday.
If the alliance succeeds in forming the next government, the provision could increase the role of senior clergy in politics. The provision would likely further alienate Iraq’s Sunni minority, which had been hoping the March election would boost their say in the country.
Al Jazeera English – Middle East – Iraqiya: Shia alliance made in Iran:
Discussions about who will become prime minister are now under way between the Shia parties, al-Asadi told Al Jazeera.
However, it is widely believed that the agreement came to light only after assurances were given by the State of Law that al-Maliki would not continue in his post.
"Mr al-Maliki has left the decision to the leadership of the alliance. There are certain internal methods to choose the PM candidate at the end of the day, and everyone should respect them," al-Asadi said.
Iraq: Nouri Maliki’s bloc forges alliance with another Shiite faction – latimes.com:
Maliki’s path to retaining the premiership is far from clear. He faces stiff opposition from the bloc loyal to Sadr, who despise the prime minister for launching several military offensives against its armed wing, the Mahdi Army, in Baghdad and southern Iraq.
The newly formed coalition constitutes 159 of the parliament’s 325 seats, just four seats short of the majority needed to govern. Its formation delivers a blow to the bloc led by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, a secular Shiite and onetime favorite of the West with close ties to U.S. allies in the Middle East.
Coalition still keen on al-Maliki after forming Shiite alliance – Monsters and Critics:
Baghdad – The State of Law coalition said Wednesday it plans to nominate its leader and current Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki for the premiership, after allying with the Iraqi National Alliance.
FT.com / Iraq – Iraqi Shia groups form alliance:
Mr Dabbagh said the Shia alliance would seek to reach out to Iraqiya to include it in the government, but made it clear Iraqiya would not be considered a major party in the next administration.
He said that State of Law and the INA would decide internally on their candidate for prime minister, which has already been a point of contention between the Shia groups because of Mr Maliki’s insistence that he retain the position of prime minister.
Sunni cleric killed by gunmen in western Baghdad: Xinhua
BAGHDAD, May 5 (Xinhua) — A Sunni cleric and three other people were shot dead by gunmen in a western Baghdad neighborhood on Wednesday, an Interior Ministry source said.
The attack took place in the morning when gunmen in a car opened fire on Abdul Jalil al-Fahdawi, Imam of a Sunni mosque in the neighborhood of Amriyah while he was leaving his home, adjacent to the mosque building, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
Fahdawi, two of his guards and a man who is his relative, were all killed by the attack, the source said.
Fahdawi is also deputy head of Scholars of Iraq Council, a nongovernmental and politically independent body which represents moderate Islam that opposes religious extremism.
Ankara expects Kurdish help with PKK – UPI.com:
PKK attacks in Turkey are increasing as the spring thaw begins. Ankara believes attacks are on the rise because of a pending visit to Turkey by Massoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq.
"We are expecting active support from the regional administration (in northern Iraq)," the foreign minister was quoted in the English-language newspaper Hurriyet as saying.
Davutoglu added that Barzani was a welcome partner in Ankara. On trilateral efforts between U.S., Iraqi and Turkish officials on the PKK issue, the foreign minister stressed that Ankara’s "determination is continuing."
Society and Economy:
Is Kurdistan the next Dubai? | Nicky Woolf | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk:
As in Dubai, urban planners are reclaiming swathes of desert or scrubland with ambitious projects like Dream City, a development of brand new homes set in landscaped gardens with shops, schools and a mosque; or the planned Korek Tower, an angular glass-clad skyscraper that its owners, a home-grown mobile phone company, even describe as "Dubai-style".
Based on the Dubai model, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is planning to expand the scope of the economy from purely oil-based to tourism and services. The minister for tourism has outlined an ambitious five-year plan for the construction of the industry practically from scratch, focusing on new intercity highways, airports and luxury hotels. Erbil’s citadel has recently been awarded Unesco World Heritage status and is the recipient of a multi-million dollar restoration scheme, and there are even plans to construct a ski resort in the mountain town of Haj Omaran.
UPDATE 1-Russia’s TNK-BP makes foray into Iraqi oil and gas | News by Country | Reuters:
Russia’s TNK-BP, half owned by BP , has established a joint venture to develop oil and gas fields in Iraq, joining Russian majors, which are tapping the world’s third-largest crude reserves.
Iraq takes extra security measures to protect oil fields – Monsters and Critics:
Iraq has begun implementing extra security measures to protect oil fields in and around the south-eastern city of Basra, security sources announced on Wednesday.
Iraq’s oil pipelines have frequently been attacked in the past. Last month, a bomb destroyed a section of pipeline linking northern Iraqi oil fields to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.
‘We removed thousands of mines and cluster bombs that were left in the oil fields in order to be able to dig and repair the wells and extend the network of oil pipelines,’ Brigadier-General Moussa Abdelhassan, head of police for the Southern Oil Company told dpa.
Security forces are cooperating with oil companies connected to the oil ministry, and have signed security agreements with foreign companies licensed to develop a number of oil fields in the area.
Iraq lobbies for oil port expansions – UPI.com:
The South Oil Co. is moving to boost export capacity through an offshore reconstruction project at the southern port in Basra. Upgrades include a 6-mile onshore and a 38-mile offshore pipeline to expand export capacity, the online Oil & Gas Journal reports.
A spokesman for the state-owned oil company said the project is part of a plan to increase export capacity from Basra ports from 1.8 million barrels per day to 4 million barrels per day during the next four years. Companies were invited to submit their interest Wednesday.
Low volumes of crude in storage were blamed for a 550,000-barrel-per-day decline in exports from Basra terminals in April.
Commentary and Analysis
Tampering with the Political Process in Iraq Asharq Alawsat Newspaper (English):
Prime Minister Al-Maliki does not consider himself the prime minister of a caretaker government. He is administering a normal government, in fact more than normal, because due to the constitutional vacuum he has immense powers that he has never had during his rule in the past four years. The prime minister now governs the country without consulting the parliament, as the term of the Council of Representatives has lapsed; therefore, the prime minister can sign whatever he wants of decisions and contracts. Also the prime minister does not need the Presidency Council, because it is semi-honorary; he understands that the army is at his disposal as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces; and the relations with the United States – according to the security agreement – is under the authority of the prime minister’s office, and hence cannot be activated, even in case of internal dispute as is the case today, except at the wish of the prime minister. This means that practically he is the president, he is the prime minister, he is the parliament, he is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and his is the controller of the relations with the United States. Thus it is in the interest of Al-Maliki and his government to prolong as much as possible the current situation, because it is a golden opportunity in which he has all the powers to spend, appoint, and change in any way he likes.
To what can this time-wasting game, which is comfortable for the government, lead? It certainly will lead to a state of restlessness and political chaos, because the competing sides will consider every passing day to be at their own expense.
الهاشمي يدعو إلى غلق سجون في المنطقة الخضراء ومطار المثنى ببغداد
دعا نائب رئيس الجمهورية طارق الهاشمي إلى غلق سجن معسكر الشرف في المنطقة الخضراء والسجن السري بمطار المثنى ببغداد، وفق بيان لمكتبه الأربعاء.
وقال البيان أن نائب الرئيس طارق الهاشمي بعث رسالة إلى هيئة الادعاء العام طالبه فيها بمراقبة أداء الأجهزة الأمنية وضمان عدم فتح سجون غير مرخصة من قبل وزارة العدل خصوصاً على مستوى الوحدات والألوية الميدانية.
وطالب الهاشمي بغلق سجن معسكر الشرف في المنطقة الخضراء (وسط بغداد) ونقل المحتجزين إلى سجن الرصافة تحت إشراف وزارة العدل، وإغلاق سجن المثنى بأسرع وقت وإكمال تحويل ما يزيد على مائة محتجز لا زال موجوداً في السجن المذكور إلى سجن الرصافة.
كما جاء بالرسالة أنه لا شك إن المتورط في ذلك هي أجهزة حكومية، الا أن مسؤولية الادعاء العام هي بالضرورة أكبر وأخطر كونه ممثل المجتمع ويحافظ على الأمن الاجتماعي.
وأضاف الهاشمي أن تدقيق مشروعية حجز حريات المواطنين، وتوفير ظروف احتجاز وفق الدستور والقانون، ومراقبة سلوك الأجهزة الأمنية والعدلية، ومتابعة ملفات المعتقلين والمسجونين يقع كله ومباشرة في صلب اختصاصاتكم، ويضعكم بالتالي أمام مسؤولياتكم.
وحث الهاشمي الادعاء العام على التحرك على عدة محاور أهمها تشكيل لجنة تحقيق نزيهة من أجل تقديم المتورطين من موظفي الدولة وغيرهم للعدالة، وضمان عدم الأخذ بالاعترافات التي أدلى بها المحتجزون تحت طائلة التعذيب أو التهديد بالاغتصاب، ومعالجة انتشار ظاهرة التعذيب المنهجي والاغتصاب، إما بإعادة النظر بالتشريعات حتى تكون رادعة بما فيه الكفاية، أو بإشاعة التثقيف المؤسسي حول أهمية مراعاة حقوق الإنسان.
وطالب الهاشمي بضمان التأهيل النفسي للمحتجزين الذين تعرضوا للتعذيب والاغتصاب، وتعويضهم تعويضاً مادياً وأدبياً، وضمان فتح السجون ومراكز الاحتجاز أمام منظمات المجتمع المدني في الداخل والخارج.
4th-May-2010 Selected English Language Coverage
Human Rights
France, Germany top EU asylum table as requests rise to 260,000 < French news | Expatica France:
Germany received the second largest amount of asylum claims in Europe, with more than 31,000, over 7,000 of whom were Iraqis. However it topped the table of positive decisions on those aslum applications, allowing in 9,765 to France’s 5,050.
Lebanon: Calls for end to arbitrary deportation of refugees:
Lebanon must halt its practice of arbitrarily detaining and deporting refugees, a human rights organization said Monday.At least 14 refugees, mostly from Iraq, have been coerced into signing deportation orders since the beginning of 2010, said Berna Habib, secretary of the board at Frontiers Ruwad (FR). After unlimited periods of arbitrary detention in miserable prison conditions, the refugees are signing the orders “out of despair,” FR’s Habib told The Daily Star.Late last month, an Iraqi refugee was deported ahead of a court hearing which would have determined whether he could remain in Lebanon. Ali Faris, another recognized refugee from Iraq, was deported on March 31 through the Lebanon-Syrian border. A court hearing held after he left ruled against his expulsion, Habib said. “All deportation orders should be suspended and reviewed, meanwhile, refugees who are arbitrarily detained should be released immediately,” said Habib.At least 1,500 migrants have been detained since 2007, with half of those remaining in custody arbitrarily for months or years, she added.
Judge refuses to drop charges facing Navy SEAL – dailypress.com:
The court-martial of a Navy SEAL accused of punching a suspected terrorist in Iraq opened Monday with the judge rejecting a defense motion to dismiss the case based on something Geraldo Rivera said on television.
Attorneys for Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew McCabe of Perrysburg, Ohio, introduced a transcript of an April 22 broadcast in which Rivera told the Fox network’s Bill O’Reilly that someone close to the military official who ordered the court-martial told him the official was pressured by a higher authority not to drop the case.
snip
McCabe attorney Haytham Faraj said Monday that the Rivera report suggested "unlawful command influence," and he asked that the charges be dismissed
The judge, Capt. Moria Modzelewski, dismissed the TV commentary as speculation and declined the defense request.
Health
Iraqis try to heal mental scars after years of war: Google News
Jabar Abdul-Zahra’s flashbacks are so vivid he can feel the asphalt against his cheek that night six years ago when he lay pinned to the ground between his two critically wounded brothers, the three of them caught in the crossfire as American troops and local militiamen fought in a Baghdad neighborhood.
The memory of waiting till dawn for the fighting to subside so he could ferry them to hospital has overshadowed the grief he felt when one brother later died from his wounds.
But the 43-year-old computer engineer didn’t understand what was causing the flashbacks, or the palpitations and sheer terror that still overcome him whenever he sees people in uniform.
Until he happened to get a contract to hook up the computers at a new center being set up in the backyard of the Imam Ali Hospital. There he met psychiatrist Haitham Abdul-Razaq — and found out he was one of tens of thousands of Iraqis with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
Politics and Security
Iraqi Sunnis Frustrated as Awakening Loses Clout – NYTimes.com:
FALLUJA, Iraq — Sheik Aiffan Saadoun al-Aiffan stepped across a scorched patch of farmland, raised his shotgun and fired once. A bird fell to the ground.
“Shooting Qaeda,” he said, explaining how he had honed his accuracy, fighting alongside American forces. But those times of counterinsurgency, when tribal leaders like him switched sides in what became known as the Sunni Awakening, are giving way to the rise of a new political order in Iraq.
The recent parliamentary elections were a serious blow to the Awakening, which has been regarded as not just a movement to pacify restive areas, but also as a potential political force to re-empower Sunnis.
BAGHDAD, May 4 (KUNA) — The Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) said the results of Monday and Tuesday’s recount of votes matched previous results up to now.
Head of IHEC’s electoral department Hamdiya Al-Hussaini told KUNA here Tuesday that the results were the same, but more checking was still required.
IHEC recounted on Monday votes of 600 out of Baghdad’s nearly 11,000 centers.
On Tuesday, it would recount votes of 800 other centers.
The Rule of Law Coalition said, Monday, it expects that the results of the recount would match previous results, if IHEC insists on ignoring the comparison of results with the voters records.(end)
Two dead in Iraq violence, two al-Qaeda leaders arrested: Deutsche Presse Agentur
Two civilians were killed and 14 injured in a attacks in Iraq on Tuesday, while police arrested two al-Qaeda leaders, security officials said.
The officials said gunmen shot and killed a pharmacist working at al-Salam hospital in the northern city of Mosul.Meanwhile police detained alleged Saudi al-Qaeda leader Mohamed Mahmoud Salama in a raid in western Mosul, a security source told the German Press Agency dpa.
The two sides exchanged fire during the raid, leaving two policemen injured.
Salama is believed to have entered Iraq in 2004. He was arrested by security forces in 2006 but managed to escape.Security forces announced that the imam of a Sunni mosque in Mosul was shot and killed by unknown gunmen after evening prayers on Monday night.
On Monday, an Iraqi security operation targeting the hideouts of al-Qaeda militants in the city of Baquba led to the arrest of 25 al- Qaeda members, including a prominent leader. ‘Among those arrested is the emir of Baquba, known as Haji Basem, who is involved in the deaths of 24 people and the displacement of 50 families in the area during the years of escalated sectarian violence, between 2005 and 2007,’ a security source said on Tuesday.
Iraqi intelligence officer killed in Baghdad bombing: Xinhua
An intelligence officer affiliated to Iraqi Interior Ministry was killed and a government employee was wounded by two separate bomb explosions in their cars in Baghdad on Tuesday, the police said.
Lieutenant Colonel Ali Hussein, head of intelligence service in northern Baghdad, was killed when a bomb planted in his car detonated in Baghdad’s northern district of Kadhmiyah, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The attack took place in the morning when the officer was driving to work, the source said.
Editor’s note: The civil servant wounded in this bombing works in the Prime minister’s office.
Hussein Kareem
Meanwhile, another bomb attached to the car of an employee in the office of the Iraqi ministerial council detonated in the Qahtan Square in western Baghdad, wounding him and two civilians who were close to the scene, the source added.
13 wounded in car bombing in northern Iraq: (Xinhua)
A booby-trapped car parked in the dense populated neighborhood of al-Dawassa in central Mosul detonated in the morning, wounding 13 people and damaging several nearby buildings and civilian cars, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The blast occurred at the same neighborhood where the governor of Nineveh Atheel al-Nujaifi lives, the source said, adding that the blast caused no casualty to Nujaifi and his house
2 US soldiers in Iraq die in non-combat incidents: Google News
The U.S. military says two American soldiers have died in Iraq from injuries sustained in separate incidents unrelated to combat.
Society and Economy:
here
Muddying the waters – Energy – ArabianBusiness.com:
Iraq’s oil minister has raised questions over the country’s planned energy expansion by indicating Baghdad would consider OPEC output curbs that may keep supply well short of ambitious capacity targets.
After Baghdad signed contracts to add around ten million barrels per day (bpd) to its oil supply, tough talks were expected within the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on an eventual output target for Iraq.
But Iraqi oil minister Hussain Al Shahristani seems to have jumped straight to the end game before even sitting down at the negotiating table with his fellow ministers.
2 more Mideast airlines have Iraq on their radar – BostonHerald.com:
Two fast-growing Middle Eastern airlines said Tuesday they are considering starting up services to Iraq, looking to join the growing fleet of carriers serving the war-scarred country.
The chief executives of FlyDubai and Qatar Airways each said they are weighing expansions to Baghdad and other Iraqi cities, including the Shiite holy city of Najaf and Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region.
If the airlines go ahead, they will be joining a growing number of carriers — including Germany’s Lufthansa and Bahrain’s Gulf Air — entering the Iraqi market as security improves and business picks up.
FlyDubai is also eyeing Sulaimaniyah in the north and Basra in the south, according to CEO Ghaith al-Ghaith. He told The Associated Press in an interview he is in talks with Iraqi and Emirati authorities to win approval for the routes.
Commentary and Analysis
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أخبار العراق
Iraqis Torturing Iraqis | Human Rights Watch
Baghdad – The man looked much older than his 24 years, in part because his front teeth had been smashed, he told us, during one of his interrogation sessions in the secret prison here. His emaciated body and trembling arms were those of a fragile hospital patient rather than the fearsome terrorist the security forces had accused him of being. His psychological wounds matched his physical state: He confided that after repeatedly being sodomized with a stick and a pistol, he frequently wets his bed and has trouble sleeping.
More Human Rights Watch work on Iraq
- Iraq: Detainees Describe Torture in Secret Jail Apr 27, 2010
- Iraq: Suspend Restrictive Broadcast Rules Apr 12, 2010
- The tough road ahead for Iraq’s election victors Mar 12, 2010
Despite overwhelming evidence that torture was routine and systematic at a secret prison in the old Muthanna airport in West Baghdad where the young man had been held, Iraqi officials at the highest level appear to be in denial, claiming the accounts by the men who were held there are fictitious. Instead of ordering an independent inquiry, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has dismissed the torture accounts as "lies" and "a smear campaign." He told the state-run Iraqiya television that the detainees inflicted the scars on themselves "by rubbing matches on some of their body parts."
But the wounds that my colleague and I witnessed last Wednesday, when we interviewed 42 of the men who had been held in that place, could not have been self-inflicted. Huge scabs on their legs matched detainees’ descriptions of being suspended upside down with their lower legs trapped between bars. Deep welts on their backs were consistent with cable whipping. These scars were just the beginning of the horror the men, and the evidence on their bodies, revealed.
We hadn’t been in Wing 5 of Baghdad’s Al Rusafa detention facility for more than a few minutes before dozens of detainees pressed against the 19 overcrowded cage-like cells to which 300 of the men had been moved after the secret prison was exposed and began re-enacting the dreadful abuses that interrogators at Muthanna had subjected them to. They lifted their shirts and pant legs to reveal fresh scars, bruising, scabs and disfigurements. Each wanted to share his story, and each story was horrifically like the ones before. We had been in Iraq for about a month recording human rights violations through interviews with victims of torture and other abuses across the country, but nothing prepared us for this encounter.
The 42 men the two of us were able to interview in the three hours we spent there recounted in appalling detail interrogation sessions that lasted three or four hours each. They described how their torturers kicked, whipped, beat and tried to suffocate them, gave them electric shocks, burned them with cigarettes and pulled out their fingernails and teeth. The prisoners said that interrogators sodomized some detainees with sticks and pistol barrels. Some young men said they had been forced to perform oral sex on interrogators and guards and that interrogator forced detainees to molest one another.
If the detainees still refused to confess, interrogators would threaten to rape the women and girls in their families.
The detainees were among about 430 who had been kept for months in the secret facility, which was run by the Baghdad Operations Command, one of several regional security commands set up by the prime minister that answer directly to him. All were transferred or released, with 300 of them moved to Al Rusafa, after the Human Rights Ministry inspected Muthanna in March and reported abuses to the prime minister. Until then, the detainees had no access to their families or lawyers. They didn’t even receive a case number, never mind formal charges. An investigative judge questioned many of them individually in a room just down the hall from one of the torture chambers.
The Iraqi Army had detained them between September and December 2009 during sweeps in and around Mosul, a Sunni militant stronghold, accusing them of aiding and abetting terrorism. They were forced to sign false confessions but even after they confessed, many said, torture persisted.
If the Iraqi government wants to avoid comparisons with U.S. abuses at Abu Ghraib and the appalling practices of the former government of Saddam Hussein, it needs to stop stonewalling.
The sooner it brings those responsible to justice, the better for these victims, the government’s reputation, and for all Iraqis who hope that the country is on its way to peace and justice.
Samer Muscati is a Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch.
02-05-2010 Selected English Language Coverage
The Day In Quotes:
- Iraqiya list spokesman Haidar al-Mulla repeating the death threat he says he received for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s office:
"This is Nouri al Maliki’s message to you; we will cut off your head and your feet if you come to Iraq."
- Nissan Karoumi, mayor of Hamdaniya on the bombing of the Mosul University student bus convoy:
"All of them were Christian students. They go in buses like that to Mosul’s university after the troubled times when Christians were targeted in the past".
Source: Reuters AlertNet – Bombs kill 1, injure 100 in north Iraq:
- Hind al-Bidairi on opening a female owned cafe with all-female waiting staff:
"I stand behind every woman trying to change the pattern of our society, to show that women are strong and have the right to get involved in all kinds of business," Bidairi said.
Politics & Security:
Iraqiya Spokesman: I Have Received A Death Threat from the Prime Minister’s Office Asharq Alawsat Newspaper (English):
The political conflict in Baghdad over the formation of Iraq’s next government has reached a stage of "open" death threats, according to Iraqiya spokesman Haidar al-Mulla who claims to have received a personal death threat from the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki.
[snip]
Al-Mulla went on to say that approximately one hour after this telephone call, an official from al Maliki’s office who is known to him and who he has spoken to him on the phone a number of times before telephoned him, swore at him and insulted him. Al-Mulla said that this official told him, "This is Nouri al Maliki’s message to you; we will cut off your head and your feet if you come to Iraq." Al-Mulla was outside of Iraq at the time of the phone call. Al-Mulla told Asharq Al-Awsat that he informed the official that he will be returning to Iraq next week, and that the official can do what he wants.
Al-Mulla confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that he recorded this telephone call, which he received during an Iraqiya bloc meeting, and that a number of senior Iraqiya bloc members were in attendance. He said that he intends to submit the recording to the Iraqi judiciary and take al-Maliki to court. Asharq Al-Awsat attempted to obtain a comment from the office of the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, but did not receive a response by the time this article went to press.
كونا : Arab League delegation participates in Baghdad’’s manual recount – الشؤون السياسية – 02/05/2010:
Arab League sent on Sunday a team to participate in the manual recount of ballots in Baghdad that kicks off on Monday.
The team is led by Assistant Secretary General of Media and communications affairs Ambassador Mohammad Al-Khamleeshi.
Kurdistan President calls on US to solve Iraq’s problems before departure : Aswat Al Iraq:
President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region Massoud Barazani called on the United States of America to solve Iraq’s problems before ordering troops to depart the country.
“Problems between Kurdistan’s regional cabinet and Iraq’s federal government have to be solved prior to U.S. withdrawal from Iraq,” Barazani said on Saturday according to the Kurdistan regional cabinet’s Web site.
KUNA : Violence in Kirkuk leads to death of lawyer, injury of policeman – Military and Security – 02/05/2010:
A lawyer was killed while a policeman was injured in two separate incidents in northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, said a security source Sunday.
The source told KUNA that masked gunnmen opened fire on a car carrying two lawyers on the main road between Kirkuk city and Dagogma town, a incident which resulted in the death of one lawyer and the injury of another.
The source added that masked gunmen opened fire on a policeman in Al-Naser neighborhood in Kirkuk, leading to the injury of the policeman.
Al Jazeera English – Middle East – Christians targeted in Mosul blasts:
A shopkeeper has been killed in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, as two bombs went off near buses carrying Christian students.
More than 100 people, including students and other civilians, were injured in the blasts on Sunday morning.
Read in full: (Editor note: Our own posting on this bombing is here: Buses Bringing Christian Students To Mosul University Bombed | Gorilla’s Guides)
Society and Economy:
Baghdad cafe waitresses break down barriers | Reuters:
Hind al-Bidairi’s dream of owning a cafe with an all-female waiting staff haunted her for years while Iraq was gripped by sectarian violence.
Islamic fundamentalists would most likely have slaughtered her and her employees had she dared.
But now, as Iraq struggles free from widespread bloodshed and the Islamist militia and insurgents who once sowed terror by killing women they considered inappropriately dressed have retreated to the shadows, her dream has come true.
"I stand behind every woman trying to change the pattern of our society, to show that women are strong and have the right to get involved in all kinds of business," Bidairi said.
Trade Arabia – Middle East & GCC Business Information | Trade News Portal:
Iraq’s oil exports fell slightly in April to 1.767 million barrels per day (bpd) from 1.79 million bpd the month before, an official at the Iraqi Oil Ministry said on Saturday.
Iraq exported an average of 1.42 million bpd from the southern oil hub of Basra and 341,965 bpd from the northern oilfields around Kirkuk, including about 9,983 bpd by trucks to Jordan, the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
The official said the reason behind the fall in exports was due to bad weather in Basra and a brief halt of exports through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline after a bomb attack last month.
Thank you for reading!
Iraqiya Spokesman: I Have Received A Death Threat from the Prime Minister’s Office
The political conflict in Baghdad over the formation of Iraq’s next government has reached a stage of "open" death threats, according to Iraqiya spokesman Haidar al-Mulla who claims to have received a personal death threat from the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki.
Al-Mulla told Asharq Al-Awsat that he received a telephone call from a senior member of Nouri al Maliki’s Dawa party at 10pm in which he was asked about the reason behind the intensity of the statements and comments issued by the Iraqiya bloc towards the comments made by al Maliki with regards to internationalizing the election issue, and that the comments made by al Maliki were not directed at the Iraqiya bloc, but rather at the Sadrist trend and the National Iraqi Alliance. Al-Mulla said that the senior Dawa party member asked him, "Why is there this tension from you?"
Al-Mulla went on to say that approximately one hour after this telephone call, an official from al Maliki’s office who is known to him and who he has spoken to him on the phone a number of times before telephoned him, swore at him and insulted him. Al-Mulla said that this official told him, "This is Nouri al Maliki’s message to you; we will cut off your head and your feet if you come to Iraq." Al-Mulla was outside of Iraq at the time of the phone call. Al-Mulla told Asharq Al-Awsat that he informed the official that he will be returning to Iraq next week, and that the official can do what he wants.
Al-Mulla confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that he recorded this telephone call, which he received during an Iraqiya bloc meeting, and that a number of senior Iraqiya bloc members were in attendance. He said that he intends to submit the recording to the Iraqi judiciary and take al-Maliki to court. Asharq Al-Awsat attempted to obtain a comment from the office of the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, but did not receive a response by the time this article went to press.
Iraqiya bloc spokesman Maysoon al-Damluji yesterday confirmed that "in a dangerous development…Iraqiya bloc spokesman Mr. Haidar al-Mulla received a telephone call from the office of the outgoing Iraqi Prime Minister, in which he received an explicit death threat in the name of the Iraqi Prime Minister. This comes after al-Mulla had accused the outgoing Prime Minister of attempting to internationalize the Iraqi issue and that ‘al-Maliki’s return to Iraq was due to internationalization [issue] and the US war to topple Saddam Hussein’s regime.’”
In its statement, the Iraqiya bloc placed the full legal responsibility on the outgoing government and the office of the Prime Minister should anything happen to Haidar al-Mulla or his family.
الملا يؤكد تلقيه تهديدا بالقتل من مكتب المالكي ويتوعد بمقاضاته
بغداد (إ ب ا)- قال عضو ائتلاف العراقية حيدر الملا إنه تلقى "تهديدا هاتفيا بالقتل حال دخوله إلى بغداد من قبل مكتب رئيس الوزراء نوري المالكي".
واوضح الملا في اتصال مع وكالة العراق بيتنا اليوم السبت أن سكرتيرا لرئيس الوزراء عرفه بكنيته (أبو رحاب) اتصل به أمس الجمعة وقال انه يحمل رسالة من رئيس الوزراء الذي يجلس بجانبه, ثم "بدأ حامل الرسالة بسب الملا وتهديده بالقتل حال دخوله إلى بغداد".
الملا أضاف أنه "تم تسجيل المكالمة وإرسالها بكتاب رسمي إلى جميع السفراء, والاتحاد الأوربي والمجتمع الدولي والأمم المتحدة والسفارة الأمريكية ليطلعوا على حجم الاضطهاد الذي يتعرض له أبناء الشعب العراقي".
وشدد الملا على أنه "سيرجع الأسبوع القادم إلى بغداد لمقاضاة المالكي على تهديده له بالقتل".
هذا وفند القيادي في ائتلاف دولة القانون حيدر العبادي في لقاء مع تلفزيون الحرة , ادعاءات الملا وقال انها تصب باتجاه تشويه سمعة الحكومة وكذلك تدويل الازمة العراقية الحالية .
وكالة العراق بيتنا – الملا يؤكد تلقيه تهديدا بالقتل من مكتب المالكي ويتوعد بمقاضاته
