At Abu Ghraib, long incarcerations, no charges

The LA Times reported this week that the mayority of those detained at Abu Ghraib are likely to remain there for months, until the end of a lengthy review process, at which time most are released without charges. As can be imagined, the long detentions of those who are eventually exonerated for lack of evidence or clear innocence, is extremely frustrating to Iraqi families.

Finding information about detainees is also fraught with obstacles.

In Baghdad, people seeking information must go to one of three government buildings. One is in the heavily fortified Green Zone. To get there, women in flowing black abayas must negotiate narrow aisles of concertina wire and several searches. Then they face questions to identify the detainee: What was the date of arrest, his full name and date of birth?

"There are 15 ways to spell Mohammed," said Lt. Col. Darwin Concon, the officer in charge of the center in the Green Zone.

[...]

Once in the Abu Ghraib prison, a detainee enters a more elaborate and time-consuming judicial process. A board made up of three representatives from the United States and six from the Iraqi ministries of interior, defense and human rights reviews each case within 90 days, [Army spokesman] Rudisill said.

The board's proceedings are not adversarial, Rudisill said. Neither the detainee nor the military has a lawyer to argue the case. A neutral officer is present to explain the evidence. The board makes its decisions immediately, Rudisill said.

Family members are not informed of the board's decisions or the dates of proceedings involving the detainee. For those retained after the initial review, additional reviews are required every six months.

The board, established in August, had reviewed about 9,400 cases through late April, Rudisill said.

More than half of the prison reviews resulted in releases for insufficient evidence. About 2,200 were released unconditionally and about 3,100 were released under the signature of a guarantor, such as a tribal leader, figures provided by Rudisill showed.

He would not characterize the circumstances that would require a guarantor. Requests to interview a member of the board were turned down.

But Amin, the former human rights minister, said it was his understanding that release with a guarantor meant that the evidence was weak, and unconditional release indicated "very weak" evidence. Amin was pushing for faster reviews so that such incarcerations would be shortened.

An additional 1,600 detainees were turned over to the Iraqi judicial system. Rudisill said about 450 had been tried, with 301 convicted. Sentences ranged from time served to 20 years.

Releases, however, have not kept pace with arrests. From August to late April, the number of Iraqis in U.S. custody climbed from 5,495 to 9,946.