Musa Keilani; 27/9/08
Attention is riveted on the wrangling between the US and Iraqi governments over the future of American forces in Iraq and the self-claimed security gains in the country. With the adoption this week of a law for provincial elections, political parties are running around to ensure a good showing in the polls, butnot much thought or attention is given to the tens of thousands of Iraqis held in prisons around the country and their sufferings. There are around 45,000 prisoners in Iraq, 26,000 of them detained in Iraqi-run jails and 19,000 in other administered facilities. (Some Iraqi newspaper sources reported in September 2007 that there were some 82,000 Iraqis in government jails, but the figure was not independently confirmed). An overwhelming majority of prisoners in Iraq are Sunnis accused of involvement in the insurgency against the US-led coalition and Iraqi government forces. They claim to be target of the Shiite-dominated security forces that fabricated charges against them as part of the sectarian “cleansing” in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq.
