Torture routine in Kurdish jails, report charges

Kurdistan's security forces, attached to the two largest political parties in the region yet out of the control of the government's Interior Ministry, routinely torture detainees and deny their due process rights, according to a report released by Human Rights Watch on July 3. The 58-page report, "Caught in the Whirlwind: Torture and Denial of Due Process by the Kurdistan Security Forces," documents systematic mistreatment of detainees held by Kurdish security forces, known as Asayish (literally "security"). While detainees' have experienced torture at the hands of Asayish, many of the abuses reported in region pale in comparison to the violence, terrorism and criminality currently engulfing much of Iraq. "The outside world, they look at Iraq they see this mess and disaster, and Kurdistan appears secure and stable," said Ayub Nuri of Human Rights Watch. "The violence in the rest of Iraq has overshadowed the abuses in Kurdistan." Most detainees are not charged with offenses, given information regarding their legal status, or provided with a mechanism to appeal their detentions. The Asayish have held hundreds of detainees, particularly those arrested on suspicion of terrorism-related offenses, without due process, for more than five years in some cases. Many detainees also complained that the authorities denied them access to relatives, and that in some cases their relatives were unaware of where they were being held, according to the report. Torture methods most frequently cited in the report include beatings to the body using implements such as cables, wooden sticks, metal rods, and hosepipes. Detainees also described how Asayish guards placed them in "stress positions" for extended periods, kept them blindfolded and handcuffed for several days at a time, and placed them in solitary confinement. With some exceptions, the report also found that conditions at Asayish facilities remained severely overcrowded and unhygienic. The Asayish forces are connected to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), and remain outside the control of the Kurdish regional authority. The two parties formally unified in July 2006, but still maintain separate detention facilities. In 1993, the de facto Kurdish authorities gave the Asayish jurisdiction over economic and political crimes, including espionage and acts of sabotage and terrorism. Attempts were made during the mid-1990s to unite the disparate security forces and bring them under the framework of the regional government's interior ministry, but proved difficult to maintain. While there are no concrete figures regarding the number of detainees across Kurdistan, Ayub Nuri of Human Rights Watch told IPS that there are currently more than 1,000 detainees, mostly held on terrorism charges, just at the Sulaimaniya detention facility, currently under the control of the PUK. The report is based on research conducted at 10 prisons in the Kurdistan region from April to October 2006. While Kurdish authorities from both the KDP and PUK expressed concern and a willingness to address the complaints by granting access to all Asayish detention facilities and allowing unannounced visits by investigators, the report contends that "these efforts have no translated into any discernible improvement for most detainees in Asayish detention facilities." "The KDP has made promises that they would review these cases, and we sent [the Kurdish regional government] a copy of the report, but we have not received any answer from them," said Nuri. This cooperation was in stark contrast to the approach of the Iraqi Ministries of Interior and Defense, and to the US and British military forces in Iraq, which since April 2003 have repeatedly denied Human Rights Watch's requests for access to their detention facilities. Asayish detainees include those arrested by Kurdistan authorities within the Kurdistan region, the governorates of Arbil, Duhok, and Sulaimaniya, as well as others arrested in joint operations conducted by the US-led coalition forces and the Iraqi army, who are then transferred to the custody of the Kurdish regional government. There are also some foreign nationals, including from Iran, Afghanistan, Sudan, Saudia Arabia, Tunisia and Jordan. HRW did not visit any of the women's prisons in Arbil, Duhok and Sulaimaniya, nor did they visit any of the juvenile detention facilities.