BAMRO

     In collaboration with the Baghdad Center for Human Rights ,the special and exclusive human rights report from inside Iraqi prisons about the spreading of infectious diseases.

 

Tuberculosis: a new tool for the murder of prisoners in Iraqi prisons

  While the human rights organizations were awaiting from the new Iraqi government to take urgent action to stop the rampant violations in all Iraqi government prisons, human rights organizations were surprised at the contuation of violations and its high serious frequency as well as the multiplicity of methods and tools of getting rid of prisoners in the official Iraqi prisons. The latest of those methods and tools is to let prisoners as preys for tuberculosis (TB) propagation in prisons including the five deadly types (pulmonary tuberculosis, peritoneal tuberculosis, intestinal tuberculosis, tuberculosis of bones, tuberculosis cold abscess).

    Iraqi authorities did not only refuse to provide any practical concrete step to stop the crimes of ill-treatment, torture and extrajudicial killings in Iraqi prisons but also, they did not take the necessary measures to stop the spread of the deadly Tuberculosis in prisons . Worse even, these authorities  insisted on the continuation of systematic methods that led to the spread of the disease. The latest victims of tuberculosis (TB) in Iraqi prisons is the prisoner (Mohammed Munther Sheikhli), who died on Monday, October 5 th, in the second justice prison inside the camp of the Fifth Division in the Kadhimiya district of Baghdad after a long struggle with tuberculosis ( TB) due to the prison’s administration refusal to transfer him to the hospital or to provide him with the necessary treatment or even isolate him from the rest of the prisoners.

    Relying on different sources, the Baghdad Center for Human Rights BCHR, and the International Belgian Organization for Human Rights BAMRO have listened to the testimonies of a number of prison officials and doctors in the medical care section of the prison as well as to witnesses of prisoners, lawyers and the families of prisoners. They all defended the idea that the Iraqi Corrections Service supervising the Ministry of Justice prisons works on spreading the deadly disease among detainees in the following prisons: the first Rusafa prisons ,second Rusafa, third Rusafa, fourth Rusafa,fifth Rusafa and Rusafa sixth prison, as well as in Baghdad Central prison for women (Alseidfor prison), the prison of the first justice, prison of Second justice and Central Prison of Karkh (Cropper Prison at Baghdad airport), the Taji Central Prison, (Alhout prison), Nasiriah Central Prison , the Prison of Basra, the Central Prison Muthanna (Samawa Prison) center, the Prisons of Hilla (both women's prison and men’s jail).

   The Baghdad Center for Human Rights, and the International Belgian Organization for Human Rights documented the neglect of the Iraqi government for the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners recommended by the United Nations Conference held in Geneva in 1955 and approved by the Economic and Social Council in its resolutions: 663c (d -24) dated on July 31st, 1957 and 2076 (d -62) dated on May 13th, 1977.It has been confirmed by Baghdad Center for Human Rights BCHR and the International Belgian Organization for human rights BAMRO that the Iraqi Ministry of Justice and its reform circle delibrately spread tuberculosis in prisons and refuse to respond to the calls of human rights organizations.

    Baghdad Center for Human Rights BCHR and the International Belgian Organization for Human Rights BAMRO have documented this report (tuberculosis :a new tool for the murder of detainees in Iraq's prisons) on the basis of the illegal violations committed by the Iraqi Corrections Service in negligence of minimum standard rules for the Treatment of Prisoners adopted by the United Nations. In fact, the delibrate health neglect intended by the prison’s administration, as well as inadequate prison conditions for human life, the lack of services, ill-treatment, malnutrition, lack of means of health ventilation, and the preventing of detainees from exposure to the sun, as well as the presence of bathroom inside the cells and halls lead to a high degree of humidity inside cells and halls. Besides, malnutrition causes lack of immunity among the detainees. Still, prison’s authorities’ refusal to isolate infected prisoners from healthy ones remains the most remarkable cause which lead to the propagation of the disease among prisoners.

Cleanliness:

    In the Iraqi Ministry of Justice prisons, there is great lack for the minimum standard of appropriate human life. In fact,lack of hygiene makes these prisons a fertile environment for tuberculosis due to shortage of healthy water adequate to the needs of the detainees in terms of cleaning, bathing and sanitory uses, while Article 15 of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners emphasizes the cleanliness of detainees and recommends that they should be provided with water and all the necessary equipements for health and hygiene. Prison administrators provide the tools needed by the prisoners for shaving only at long intervals that can exceed at times two or three months, while Article 16 stresses the need to "provide the prison with necessary facilities for hair and chin care besides enabling the males to shave regularly."

        Prison’s authorities prevent prisoners from wearing their own clothes and force them to wear ” prison dresses” delivered by prison’s authorities. The latter also provide prisoners with inner clothes made of clothing of very poor fabrics. Article 17 stresses that in case a prisoner is not allowed to wear his own clothing , he should be given a range of clothing suitable for the climate and adequate to keep him in good health.Besides, these clothings shall in no case be humiliating or degrading.Thus, all the prisoners’ clothes must be clean and in good condition. Inner clothes shall be changed and washed as often as necessary to maintain health.

Food:

     Malnutrition, lack of food and the lack of sanitary drinking water provided to prisoners by the prisons authorities were reasons to directly reduce the prisoners’ health immunity. Article 20 states that "prison’s administrators should offer each prisoner, at the usual hours, a valuable meal with sufficient nutritious value, of good quality both in terms of preparation and serving , and to allow each prisoner access to drinking water whenever he needs it in order to maintain his health and physical strength. "

 

                               

Ventilation and exercise:

     Iraqi Ministry of Justice continue pushing large numbers in the halls and cells of its reform circle. Indeed, the prisons’ numbers is three times higher than the average capacity of most of those halls and cells, which results is unbearable overcrowding. In addition,both the air conditioning and ventilation equipment are broken down. Moreover, the presence of bathrooms within the halls and cells are all reasons that lead to increased humidity and air pollution, which are two main causes for the spread of tuberculosis. Article 21 notes that every prisoner has the right to at least an hour a day to practise appropriate aerobics exercise in fresh air.

Medical Services:

     The Iraqi Corrections Service does not provide the necessary and basic medical services to prisoners. In fact, the prison administrations allow only ten prisoners from each section to be consulted at the medical care division once each week,while the number of prisoners in each section is at least 450 prisoners. Article 24 necessitates that department Prisons should appoint "a doctor that examines every prisoner as soon as possible after entering prison, and thereafter whenever necessary, especially in order to detect any physical or mental illness,he/ she could be infected with and take all the necessary  measures to treat him/her. It is also stated in Article 25" that the doctor should supervise the physical and mental health of patients, and he should see all sick prisoners at a daily basis. And to examine all those who complain of any illness, and in particular any prisoner whose health status attracted the doctor’s attention . "

      As for prisoners suffering from tuberculosis (TB),they are not provided by necessary medicines from prison departments. Besides, they are not transferred to hospitals or special sections, making the disease infection transmitted easily from infected prisoners to healthy ones. Moreover, the Ministry of Justice refused to allow the families hand in medecines to the prisoners while Article 22 of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners states that "prisoners who require special treatment shall be transferred to specialized institutions or to civil hospitals. It is also compulsory that treatment services shoul include sufficient equipments , tools and pharmaceutical supplies in such a proper degree for the purpose of providing care, and medical treatment needed for sick prisoners, and that there shall be a staff with appropriate professional qualification ". Article 24 also emphisizes that" isolation of prisoners suspected of being infected with infectious diseases is recommended along with the identification of any physical or mental defects that could constitute an obstacle against rehabilitation, and the determination of the physical energy every prisoner should have in order to be able to work, and that the doctor has to report to the manager the apparent deterioration of the physical or mental health of any prisoner due to continued imprisonment or by any other condition of the prison. "

 

Tuberculosis in women's prisons:

  Tuberculosis (TB) spreads in the women's prisons is the same way as in men's prisons and in the youngesters’prison, where the number of prisoners infected with the disease rose in Baghdad Central Prison (Alseidfor prison in Baghdad) and in the Central Prison of Hilla, Babylon province.The insistence of the Ministry of Justice not to isolate infected prisoners boost the spreading of the disease among other prisoners and even to the children of some female prisoners who embrace their babies in prison, while Article 23 demonstrates that the duty of the prison authorities is to take the necessary measures to provide kindergartens equipped by a qualified staff to receive the infants during the periods in which they are not in the care of their mothers.

 

   The medicine division in the Iraqi Corrections Service (which is responsible for care and medical services in the Ministry of Justice prisons) does not lead its legal and humanitarian duty as it should, even though the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners stated in Article 26 states that the medical officer shall regularly inspect the following aspects and provide advice to the Director :

(A) The quantity and quality of the food and its preparation.

(B) The hygiene and cleanliness of the prison and the prisoners.

(C) The sanitation, heating, lighting and ventilation in prison.

(D) the quality and cleanliness of prisoners' clothing and supplies of their beds.

(E) the extent of adherence to the rules concerning physical education and sports, when the organizers of these systems are non-specialists.

 Through what has been monitored and documented, the Baghdad Center for Human Rights BCHR and tha International Belgian Organization for Human Rights BAMRO confirm that the treatment of Iraqi Ministry of Justice, and its circle of reform with the spread of tuberculosis (TB) in prisons is beyond the level of neglect and exceeds the level of an individual practice to a delibrate intended strategy.

Recommendations:

      Baghdad Center for Human RightsBCHR and the Belgian International Organization for Human Rights BAMRO recommend the following:

 First: the Iraqi Council of Representatives to convene an urgent session to question the Minister of Justice (Haider Nateq Zamili) and director general of the Iraqi Corrections Service (Mohammed al-Saadi) and all managers and prison officials because of increasing crimes of human violations in Iraqi prisons.

 Second:The formation of a legal committee (non-politicized) under international supervision for the receipt of the management of all Iraqi prisons and that the Committee conduct the following:

1. investigation with Iraqi Justice Minister (Haider Nateq Zamili) and director general of the Iraqi Corrections Service (Mohammed al-Saadi) and all managers and prison officials in all crimes of ill-treatment, torture and abuse , as well as the investigation of former Iraqi officials in charge of the Iraqi prisons file, led by the former Prime Minister (Nuri Kamal Maliki) and the former Justice Minister (Hassan Halboss Hamza al-Shammari).

2. Provision of a specialized medical team to conduct an urgent examination for all prisoners in Iraqi prisons and the isolation of suspected infected with any disease from the rest of the prisoners in order to avoid the spread of the disease, and provide the required treatment for patients , and document the scars of physical torture suffered by most of these prisoners.

3. Working to create places that are appropriate for human life and that are identical to the terms of the approved international standards .

4. Work to provide courts with all guarrantee for justice and equality for all these prisoners.

5. abolition of repressive laws and legislation that are inconsistent with the laws of logic and justice, particularly the law of anti- terrorism and the law of confidential informant .

Baghdad Center for Human Rights

Belgian International Organization for Human Rights BAMRO