Montrealer Ehab Lotayef relates from Iraq how a woman and her daughters (the youngest twelve) were arrested by Occupation Forces during a neighbourhood sweep in Baghdad and how she was subsequently detained at the "Iraqi Guantanamo Bay" of the north, Abu Ghraib prison.

Baghdad, December 29, 2003. It was late in the evening in Al-Aadamia, just north of downtown Baghdad. There was no electricity, as is usually the case when raids happen. A mother was home with her three daughters, the youngest of whom is twelve. First there was a loud bang (that was the garden door being kicked open), then heavy banging on the house door. The mother screamed, "I'm coming, don't break it." But by the time she got to the door she was face to face with the American soldiers who had already smashed the door open.

The house search was quick, while a state of shock took over the four women, who spoke little English. They were then told that they had to go with the soldiers. Where to, and what for, are questions that were never answered. They were barely allowed a few seconds to grab shoes and jackets, but not all of them managed to get what they needed. The mother, for example, ended up leaving without her diabetes and blood pressure medications, which she needs regularly, and one of the girls only had time to grab a pair of sandals she usually wears in the garden.

The four women were blindfolded and put in the back of a military vehicle which was not covered, and they recall being very cold. When the vehicle reached its destination they were led into a building where they heard a lot of screaming and crying. They assume that they were put in the same room but, since they were strictly instructed not to say a word, and were still blindfolded, they couldn't confirm it. Over the next few hours each of them recalls being moved to another room and being interrogated. Mostly the questions were about the resistance and if they knew who owned weapons. The youngest recalls that she wanted to - but never did - tell them that she wished she knew about the resistance and that she would, after this experience, be part of it if she could. Later, the two younger girls were released while the mother and the older daughter were moved to Abu-Ghraib prison, on the outskirts of Baghdad. A name now that is synonymous to detentions without investigation or trial. An Iraqi Guantanamo Bay, if you would.

On the evening this family was detained at least forty people were detained in Al-Aadamia alone, according to a survey conducted by a local resident. By now the number of Iraqis detained by the CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority) varies depending upon who you talk to. In some estimates it is in the hundreds of thousands. And the more alarming information is that there are no dates set for reviewing any case, let alone scheduling trials. The reply usually given by the CPA, when they feel like giving one, is that the cases will not be studied except after the formation of the new Iraqi government (expected in June 2004).

On the other hand, non-Iraqis detained by the CPA are held in British controlled territory; in Um-Qasr near Basra in the south of the country. Some of those foreign detainees were foreign students studying at the University of Baghdad for many years (many of whom are Palestinians who, when they questioned the soldiers about their [supposed] crimes, were told that it was being Palestinian) and who were preparing for their final exams in April and May of this year. Since they are still there today, they already lost two academic years, but this is not the worst part of what they are facing. There is word that they are considered "enemy combatants" by the CPA. More Guantanamo Bay similarities.

While the Aadamia mother held in the Abu-Ghraib Bay is now taking replacement medication provided by the Americans, maybe the best we can do for her, for now, is pray that it is the correct medication, since no one knows for how long she will have to depend on it.

(Photo: Ehab Lotayef. American soldier in Baghdad.)

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Ehab Lotayef, a Montreal poet and a computer engineer at McGill University was in Iraq with the Iraq Solidarity Project during the month of December. The Iraq Solidarity Project (ISP) is a Montreal-based grassroots initiative to help provide international monitoring of occupation forces and the corporate reconstruction of Iraq and protective accompaniment to Iraqis under the occupation. To join ISP listserv, send a blank email to psi-...@lists.riseup.net. For more about ISP, p...@riseup.net.