My OperaJustice in Iraq.
Friday, January 4, 2008 3:40:53 AM
Military law experts said the manslaughter charges reflect the military's reluctance to pursue murder charges because they are hard to win in court -- especially as military juries tend to give combat troops the benefit of the doubt. Investigating officers in the cases have recommended lesser charges because they have found that the Marines determined the houses were hostile and believed they could kill everyone inside, more likely a case of recklessness than intent to commit a crime.
....
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2005/iraq0105/12.htm
‘Ali Bargouth ‘Alwan: a thirty-year-old man living in the neighborhood of al-Saydiyya in Baghdad, employed as a guard in a car showroom. He told Human Rights Watch that the police arrested him in June 2004, [he could not remember the exact day], upon finding a hand grenade in his possession. He said he had bought it for 1,500 dinars from a group of men outside a restaurant in al-Bataween, who were insistent and said it was a cheap deal:
A few minutes later a car drew up, and four policemen got out after seeing the hand grenade in my hand. They bound my hands behind my back with metal handcuffs, blindfolded me with a piece of cloth and began hitting me in front of passers-by. They punched me and kicked me and hit me with the butts of their rifles on my head and all over my body. While in the car on the way to the police station, one of them said if I gave him 50,000 dinars he would let me go before reaching the station, but I refused.
At al-Sa’doun police station, I was taken up to the interrogating officer’s room. They removed the blindfold but left me handcuffed. There were six of them altogether. The first lieutenant started asking me questions as the others punched me, kicked me and used cables and pipes on my back and head. One of them said I must say that the grenade was mine and reveal where I had got it from. They continued beating me, with insults and verbal abuse, which lasted until two o’clock in the morning with a few minutes’ break in between. At the end of the interrogation session they asked me to sign a statement, although I can neither read nor write, but no one read it out to me and I was obliged to sign it.
I was not allowed to contact my family to let them know I was detained, so no one visited me. When I first got to the police station, there were about sixty or seventy people held there. There was nowhere for me to sleep or rest, so I slept on the floor of the toilet. The police gave us no food, and I ate from the food that the families of other detainees brought them. There were no beds, and everyone had to sleep on their side because there was no room.
A week later I was brought before the investigative judge at the court in al-Karrada. I had no lawyer and the court did not appoint one for me for the hearing. I told the judge I was beaten while being questioned at the police station, but he did not respond to what I said. He just asked me whether I had anything to add, and said my case would be referred to the misdemeanors court.223
‘Ali told Human Rights Watch that twenty days after his arrest, the police transferred him to Abu Ghraib Prison. His case was later referred to the felony court, and on the day the organization met him, his trial was adjourned because the judge was absent.
What's that, you say? That it's in a war- zone, so we should only expect problems with the justice system in place? Impeccable logic, obviously.
