The Iraqi government started punishing provinces who rejected the constitution

The referendum about the Iraqi constitution was associated with huge frauds made by the ruling parties, who insisted on passing articles that are in their favor. Many parties and politicians have asked for investigations. However, instead of investigating these frauds, the Iraqi government has raised major offensives against people of the provinces which rejected the constitution. The minister of interior and minister of defense are from parties that strongly backed the constitution. Moreover most of the personnel of those ministries are from these parties.

These offensives started with the operation named " Iron curtain", which was raised against people of Alqaem and Karaabla and Al-ubaidy in Al-Ramadi province west of Iraq. In the name of following foreign insurgents, many houses have been demolished on the heads of peaceful families. The USA F-16 fighters, which were used normally do not differentiate between insurgent fighters and peaceful families. The USA troops declared that they have killed 37 Iraqis in air raids on 14 Nov. in Al-ubaaidy town. The Iraqi Red Crescent reported on 13 Nov. the finding of 54 dead under the rubble of their houses. They included many women and children. The USA troops always consider any person they kill as insurgents. More than 200 civilians were arrested in the 1st week of Nov in Al-Ramadi province.

On the other hand, waves of arresting civilians have started in Dialla province north-east of Baghdad. On 12 & 13 Nov more than 600 civilians were arrested there and more than 200 were arrested in Baghdad.. These are the numbers declared by the government sources, but the actual numbers are more. The arrested people will be detained for few months, without being charged or sent to a trail. The total number of detainees by the Iraqi government has exceeds 100,000 as many sources confirmed. Most of the detainees face brutal treatments. In many cases electric drills were applied to the detainees arms, or legs during the interrogation sessions. These brutal actions have led to false confessions.

It is obvious that such actions are against those who voted " NO " for the new Iraqi constitution. It is no more than some kind of revenge performed by USA troops and Iraqi government. It is ironic that those who are speaking of installing democracy in Iraq, detain tens of thousands of peaceful people without charging them, with out letting any lawyers or the Red Cross or the Red Crescent to visit them.

We hereby ask you to act, according to your responsibility, to free the detained Iraqis or to send them to a fair and justice trail. We always condemn violence, but when violence and torture come from governmental institutions and USA troops, it will only ignite much more violence and terror.

Mohamed Younis
Mosul / IRAQ