Security Forces Face Abuse Claims
Overzealous Iraqi army and police charged with riding roughshod over the rights of local people.
Security Forces Face Abuse Claims
Overzealous Iraqi army and police charged with riding roughshod over the rights of local people.
Baghdad residents have accused Iraqi security forces of heavy-handedness and gross indiscipline as they attempt to quell the insurgency in the capital.
The complaints were voiced during the constitutional referendum, when Iraq’s military and police, backed by the US army, tightened security throughout the country for the October 15 poll.
The ballot was held 11 days after Iraqi forces took over Baghdad security from US-led multinational troops. The government made security a top priority following weeks of violence that left hundreds dead across the country.
While few incidents were reported in the capital on referendum day, IWPR reporters came across a number of instances of heavy-handedness and indiscipline by Iraqi troops and police, in one case with fatal consequences.
Baha, an unemployed 23-year-old Baghdad resident, said a member of the interior ministry’s elite force harassed him prior to the referendum as he drank a beer in front of his house.
He said the officer accused him of losing his morals and threatened to hand him over to the Mahdi Army, run by Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, for drinking alcohol in public.
Baha, who did not want to give his last name, said the policeman and other security forces assaulted him, seized his cellular phone and detained him for a few hours.
"I did not commit a crime except for drinking a beer," he said.
Salih Mahdi, 45, who owns a shop in the Baya'a area south of Baghdad, claimed the special forces killed his brother when they opened fire on his store “for no reason”, after apparently being targeted by insurgents.
"I know the police panicked after they were targeted by explosives,” he said. “But they killed my brother. What did he ever do?"
Members of the Iraqi security forces often fire randomly in the air in order to clear the roads for police and military patrols, risking civilian casualties. But the interior minister, Bayan Jabir Solagh, has insisted that anyone found guilty of doing so will be brought to justice, and called on locals to report such cases to the authorities.
Interior ministry official Ahmed al-Wa'ili said they had received a number of complaints in this regard, but when the cases were investigated it emerged that the security forces had been responding to threats or actual attacks. As a result, he said, no action had been taken against personnel suspected of wrongdoing.
Insurgents attack both the US and Iraqi forces, but the local police are particularly vulnerable to car- and roadside-bombs because they are not as well trained and equipped as the military - significantly, lacking armoured vehicles.
"We are targeted,” said a 30-year-old police officer, who preferred not to be identified. “Our colleagues and friends are killed by terrorists. Despite this, we work to serve Iraqis.
“Citizens should accept that we sometimes unintentionally make mistakes."
Major General Rashid Fleyah, commander of Iraq’s special forces, denied the accusations of brutality and harassment.
"Some members of my force might personally misbehave, but this is not what happens generally," he said. "We will hold accountable those who are careless, and may even discharge those who are guilty."
A number of those IWPR spoke to said they hoped the new constitution would protect them from security force abuses.
“I will put a copy of the constitution in my pocket wherever I go because other people, especially the security and police forces, have no idea what my rights are,” he said. “No one will dare punish me without reason.”
Safaa Mansoor is an IWPR trainee in Baghdad.
The complaints were voiced during the constitutional referendum, when Iraq’s military and police, backed by the US army, tightened security throughout the country for the October 15 poll.
The ballot was held 11 days after Iraqi forces took over Baghdad security from US-led multinational troops. The government made security a top priority following weeks of violence that left hundreds dead across the country.
While few incidents were reported in the capital on referendum day, IWPR reporters came across a number of instances of heavy-handedness and indiscipline by Iraqi troops and police, in one case with fatal consequences.
Baha, an unemployed 23-year-old Baghdad resident, said a member of the interior ministry’s elite force harassed him prior to the referendum as he drank a beer in front of his house.
He said the officer accused him of losing his morals and threatened to hand him over to the Mahdi Army, run by Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, for drinking alcohol in public.
Baha, who did not want to give his last name, said the policeman and other security forces assaulted him, seized his cellular phone and detained him for a few hours.
"I did not commit a crime except for drinking a beer," he said.
Salih Mahdi, 45, who owns a shop in the Baya'a area south of Baghdad, claimed the special forces killed his brother when they opened fire on his store “for no reason”, after apparently being targeted by insurgents.
"I know the police panicked after they were targeted by explosives,” he said. “But they killed my brother. What did he ever do?"
Members of the Iraqi security forces often fire randomly in the air in order to clear the roads for police and military patrols, risking civilian casualties. But the interior minister, Bayan Jabir Solagh, has insisted that anyone found guilty of doing so will be brought to justice, and called on locals to report such cases to the authorities.
Interior ministry official Ahmed al-Wa'ili said they had received a number of complaints in this regard, but when the cases were investigated it emerged that the security forces had been responding to threats or actual attacks. As a result, he said, no action had been taken against personnel suspected of wrongdoing.
Insurgents attack both the US and Iraqi forces, but the local police are particularly vulnerable to car- and roadside-bombs because they are not as well trained and equipped as the military - significantly, lacking armoured vehicles.
"We are targeted,” said a 30-year-old police officer, who preferred not to be identified. “Our colleagues and friends are killed by terrorists. Despite this, we work to serve Iraqis.
“Citizens should accept that we sometimes unintentionally make mistakes."
Major General Rashid Fleyah, commander of Iraq’s special forces, denied the accusations of brutality and harassment.
"Some members of my force might personally misbehave, but this is not what happens generally," he said. "We will hold accountable those who are careless, and may even discharge those who are guilty."
A number of those IWPR spoke to said they hoped the new constitution would protect them from security force abuses.
“I will put a copy of the constitution in my pocket wherever I go because other people, especially the security and police forces, have no idea what my rights are,” he said. “No one will dare punish me without reason.”
Safaa Mansoor is an IWPR trainee in Baghdad.
