Iraq has long been known for having a flawed justice system.
The 2005 constitution and other legislation ensure due process and protections
against torture, but those are rarely followed. Due to the fact that the Iraqi
courts rely so heavily upon confessions to decide cases and the history of
abuse within the system dating back decades there is a built in bias to force
detainees to admit to crimes. Other issues routinely occur as well such as the
denial of lawyers and the ability to form a defense, and misapplying terrorism
charges. The United Nations released a report
in February 2015 alleging that the root problem lies with the Iraqi judges who
do nothing about torture charges and overlook other violations.
The Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner for Human
Rights and the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq Human Rights Office
did a preliminary investigation of cases in Iraq in 2013 that found widespread
violations in Iraq’s justice system. That was initiated after the United
Nations received complaints from northern and western Iraq that the government
was not following due process, were not providing fair trials, was abusing the
Anti-Terrorism Law of 2006, and torturing prisoners. From October to December
2013 the U.N. looked at several cases where they found evidence to support those
claims. They observed nine cases involving 11 defendants where the police were
accused of torture to obtain confessions. During the trials the accused brought
up the abuse allegations, but none of the presiding judges did anything about
it. In all of the cases the judges asked that the defendants prove that they
had been tortured. That was impossible because the authorities held them from
when they were arrested to when they arrived at court. In most of the cases the
judges decided to use their confessions even though they were said to be
obtained under duress. Torture is banned in Iraq yet there is a long history of
its widespread use. Since the police know that a confession will generally
guarantee a conviction they often beat one out of suspects. These charges have
often been with terrorism charges, but the U.N. found that in all types of
cases the police are accused of beatings and other techniques to get suspects
to talk. This initial look into the court system led to a more in depth
investigation the following year.
From January to June 2014 the U.N. observed 92 cases where
it found its initial concerns were substantiated. The U.N. went to Basra,
Muthanna, Dhi Qar, and Maysan for six months, and looked at capital,
anti-terror, honor killing, prostitution, human trafficking, and drug cases. 28
defendants in 17 cases alleged that they had been tortured to force a
confession. In none of those cases did the judge order an investigation into
those charges. In 9 cases a judge did ask for medical records to prove that
they had been abused. Only in 2 cases were those provided, but they had no
affect upon the trial as the judges proceeded anyway. Only in one case was a
suspect asked about his torture allegations. The judge asked why the defendant
did not report the torture to the investigating judge when he was questioned.
The man said that he didn’t say anything because the police that beat him where
with him in the room during the interrogation. In five other cases the U.N.
heard witnesses provided by the prosecution say that they had been tortured to get
them to accuse a defendant. In the end, 19 of the 28 defendants were convicted,
four were acquitted and five had their cases adjourned. This pointed to one of
the root problems with Iraq’s judicial system. Judges routinely hear about
abuse, but do nothing about it. This implicit acceptance of torture means that
there is no reason to stop it and gives the green light to the police to
continue with their practices.
In some instances, the abuse dealt out by the Iraqi police
was extreme. One woman in Basra claimed she had been beaten so badly that she
had a miscarriage and had her arm broken. Another defendant accused the police
of murdering his co-suspect during questioning, which was supported by his
lawyer at trial. Another was told that his sister would be raped if he didn’t
implicate another person of a crime. Again, many of these involved common
criminal cases showing that the police were just as likely to commit violations
against terrorism suspects as regular citizens.
The U.N. heard accusations of corruption within the police.
In one case involving terrorism charges in Nasiriyah, Dhi Qar, a suspect said
that the police told him they would not torture him and would let him go if
they were paid $20,000. In another case a defense lawyer claimed the police
asked him for bribes to release his defendants. Corruption is rampant
throughout the Iraqi government so it should be no surprise that the security
forces are involved. What is another concern is the fact that the authorities
were willing to let a terrorism suspect go for money. That raises the question
of how many insurgents might have been let go over the years if they were
willing to pay off the police.
Other violations the U.N. heard about were not providing
lawyers, not allowing a defense to be prepared, denying communication with
attorneys, and misapplying terrorism and capital charges. In hardly any of the
cases the U.N. reviewed were the suspects told that they had a right to a
lawyer. This was further complicated by the fact that few of the people had the
money to hire one. Usually the judge picked a lawyer in court to defend a
person even though they had not met with their client before and therefore had
no time to prepare a defense. In many of the cases the U.N. witnessed the
lawyers usually made very few comments during the trial as a result. In one
case in Nasiriya involving three accused of terrorism they had hired a lawyer,
but a judge refused to accept him and picked a lawyer from the court instead. In
four trials in Basra involving prostitution judges added the death penalty to
their cases for no apparent reason. In one case in Basra involving the murder
of a taxi driver a policeman got terrorism added to the charges because he
claimed the defendant had killed his father. In another case where Red Crescent
workers were arrested for handing out old flyers with a picture of Saddam
Hussein on them, intelligence officers got terrorism charges added to their
case as well. That was dismissed. Just like the torture allegations it is only
with the complicity of the judges that these abuses are allowed to continue.
The judiciary did not appear to care whether due process was being followed,
and in some cases would carry out violations themselves. The reigning view
appeared to be that if people were arrested and their case went to trial they
were presumed guilty. Therefore any post-arrest abuses were accepted because
the defendants were likely going to prison anyway.
The United Nations investigation provided more damning
evidence against Iraq’s courts. Many other human rights groups have issued
similar reports in the past noting these types of violations. The Iraqi
government has done little to address these issues until recently. Prime
Minister Haider Abadi did issue an order that arrest warrants had to be issued
for all arrests and that people who were detained without them had to be
released. There are a few reports that this is being followed. The deeper
institutional problems of torture and denying a fair trial however have yet to be
dealt with.
SOURCES
Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner for Human
Rights, United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) Human Rights Office,
“Report on the judicial response to allegations of torture in Iraq,” February
2015
No comments:
Post a Comment