Iraqis Dig for Jailed Relatives at Intelligence Headquarters

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Iraqis trying to reach relatives left to die in Saddam's underground dungeons:



Iraqis Dig for Jailed Relatives at Intelligence Headquarters

Reuters



BAGHDAD, 12 April 2003 — Hundreds of desperate Iraqi civilians stormed the headquarters of Iraq’s military intelligence yesterday and started digging the ground to try to find relatives they believe are trapped in dungeons below. US soldiers, who took Baghdad on Wednesday and are trying to secure and restore order to the city, later moved into the sprawling compound in the northwestern district of Kadhimiya with tanks and armored vehicles.



Family and friends of detained Iraqis earlier appealed for help from the US military to rescue people they said were in underground jails. As they dug, voices could be heard below the surface. “I am afraid the people in here are going to die,” said a man in the crowd who gave his name as Mohammed Saleh.



The General Headquarters of Iraqi military intelligence near the Kadhimiya mosque, a shrine for Shiite Muslims, was one of the most feared places in the Iraqi capital under the rule of Saddam Hussein. Frantic relatives chiseled away at the concrete floor but the search came to an abrupt halt when their tools hit steel. “Where the hell are the Americans?” people yelled as spades scraped the steel vaults believed to encase the prison cells. Entrances to the underground prison cell complex were known to have been sited in obscure places outside the military intelligence HQ, possibly inside normal looking houses.



People roaming the complex spoke of seeing what they described as a torture chamber containing tanks which could be used for submersion or partial drowning. Reports were difficult to verify because of growing chaos inside the complex before the arrival of the American soldiers. The tense atmosphere reflected the anarchy gripping Baghdad following two days of looting since US tanks and troops took control of the center of the city.



Inside the intelligence headquarters, Fayed Assour said he was looking for three of his brothers arrested in the 1980s. “They say they are sure there are people who have been here for days without food and may be dying.” The angry crowd discovered a ledger with the name and rank of more than 200 senior Iraqi Army officers — all of Kurdish origin — which it said had been jailed in 1994 as a “precaution”. Iraqis say many thousands of people went missing during Saddam Hussein’s 24-year rule — allegedly executed, tortured or shut away in prison

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