Survival of Abu-Ghraib Jail

This entry is part 4 of 10 in the series Survival of Abu-Ghraib Jail

Dr. Ala Musa Hasan | Exclusive to iKurd.net

For the record, before I start with this piece of narrative, I must point out that, there was also a noticeable number of non-Faili Kurds youths incarcerated with us at Abu-Ghraib Jail.

Some of those non-Faili youths were from Karballa area, others were from Kaddimain area of Baghdad, and there was one Arab guy from Ahwaaz Iran, and another Kurdish guy from Sanandaj Iran, and two Iranian guys whom their fathers were the employees of the Iranian Embassy.

There was also another Kurdish guy from Iran whom his uncle was a Kurdish singer that used to sing for Saddam on the Iraqi Television station, and he was also a radio broadcaster at the Iraqi radio station with the Farsi language.

Derision, Degradation, and Debasement as I noted earlier in my previous narratives that we (Faili youths) were incarcerated in a maximum security Jail without being Sentenced. This unfair and prejudice imprisonment had a huge impact on our psychological and physical aspects, as well as, the culture of incarceration enforced us to glare on any sign of weakness and vulnerability, and discourage us from expressing our candid emotions or intimacy.

Some youths were forced to embrace their feelings and emotions in a way that promotes toughness and stance in the face of others even if the insults were insignificant. The failure to conceal our weaknesses was an invitation for exploitation. Yet, these behaviors are often part of the process of prisonization as adapting to the formal rules that was imposed on us by the institution.

At Abu-Ghraib Jail, we (Faili youths) experienced a diminished sense of self-worth and personal value. We were typically denied our basic privacy rights, and we lost control over the mundane aspects of our existence that most Iraqis citizens have long taken for granted.

We lived relatively in large cells, extremely overcrowded and deteriorated spaces, very dirty and unhealthy, have no control over our lives, often have no choice over when we must get up or go to bed, and when or what we may eat. We used to sleep on the cement floor with one thin blanket beneath us and the other blanket to cover with.

On the other hand, the criminals/murders used to sleep on relatively good beds, but the innocent youths used to sleep on a cold and filthy cement floor. Those cells were so mucky and full of bugs that we used to place a small cloth in our ears so those bugs would not enter into our ears while we are sleeping.

Some of us felt so infantilized and helpless, that the degraded conditions under which we lived, was repeatedly reminding us of our compromised social status and our stigmatized social role as Faili Kurds people. The diminished sense of self-worth and personal value resulted In extreme cases of institutionalization, which offers the symbolic meaning that we deserve this Derision, Degradation, Debasement, and the stigma that we have been subjected to as a Faili Kurds people.

The Abu-Ghraib’s guards and the commander used to humiliates us every day, by making fun of our language and our ethnic background. Some of those youths had brothers, relatives, and friends, who were incarcerated with them, but they were placed in another cell, and they used to communicate with them through the windows with their own Kurdish language.

Because we were not allowed to go out during the day even for one or two hours for a fresh air and to communicate with other Faili youths. the only way of communication and connection that we had was through those windows. However, the Jail commander prohibited us from doing that, and who ever does that will be placed in the individual box for few hours as a punishment.

Although, I must say that some Jail guards were good to us and they used to show us some degree of sympathy, but the majority were mean to us. There was one older police officer that used to care for me and every day that he was on his shift, he used to ask for me and communicate with me through the gate window. He used to ask me if anyone of these youths is giving me a hard time or if they were mean to me, but my answer was no, I am doing okay.

The degree of the emotional and the mental abuse at Abu-Ghraib Jail was so massive and very agonizing. Also the verbal abuse was unacceptable and very humiliating. We used to get a lots of the degrading remarks from the jail commanders about our mothers and sisters and how bad they were. Those remarks were very painful and made us feel so terrible and they were so detrimental to our self-esteem and self-confidence.

We (Faili Kurs) were humiliated on the basis of collective-level identity characteristic (our ethnic background)which eventually led to the reaction of immediate aggression. Because the collective-level characteristic of humiliation produces more negative and aggressive reactions than the personal-level humiliation.

That every day that went by at Abu-Ghraib Jail, we (Faili Kurds) experienced a fraternal deprivation, by feeling lower than the governing group, by noticing the discrepancy between our group’s rights (Faili Kurds) compare to the rights of the dominant group (Arabs).

One day, approximately 12:00 P. M., there was a fight between few guys at the cell next to us, which resulted in the guard’s intrusion. The guards took those Faili Kurds out of their cell and they physically assaulted them and transferred them to different cells.

One of those Faili youths was placed in our cell, and the jail’s commander was going on by saying that,”Your mothers and sisters are getting raped at the boarder by the Iranian soldiers and you guys are misbehaving and fighting here”.

That harsh statement was very tough on some of those youths, therefore, some of those youths started to shout and break the glass windows and kicking the cell’s gate. Soon later on, all youths joined the uprising. I was so shocked seeing that, and I was standing at the corner of the cell by the bathroom and watching those youths getting very aggressive and violent.

I did witness one youth who was an athlete start kicking the cell gate with force and the other youths were cheering for him, but he broke his leg. Later on, those youths took off the bathroom door, which was a heavy steel door, and they start banging it against the cell gate and not too long after, they were successful in breaking down the cell gate and freeing themselves.

I did witness the guards leaving the facility that we were situated at, and that gave those youths the control to do so. After those youths freed themselves, they rampaged through the facility trying to free other incarcerated youths.

This is what really happened at Abu-Ghraib Jail during the 1980’s, but I do not remember the exact day or the date of that event, because I lost track of the days and the date while I was placed there. It was the most courageous and frightening day for all of us. Those youths were so heroic by placing their lives in God’s hands and facing the unexpected danger.

Dr. Ala Musa Hasan, a Canada-based Faili Kurd, PHD Candidates in Clinical Psychology.

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