Iraq Detainees' Endless Ordeal

BAGHDAD — With the first beam of the sun, Ghaliyah al-Yassir, 41, heads to a Baghdad prison hoping to hear a word about the fate of her husband.

"My husband is a good man and until now he didn't have the chance to stand before a judge," the mother of three told IslamOnline.net.

"He is held there like an animal."

Her husband, Jamal, was arrested while gardening a house in Baghdad.

"One of the neighbours told us he was arrested by the militaries," she recalls.

"And after two weeks, a released prisoner brought me a letter from him. Since then I have been desperately trying to see him."

Ghaliyah's ordeal does not end here.

"I don't work and during all marriage years, I always took care of our home and kids while he worked to provide for the family," she says.

"Now, I don't have money and my family is too poor to us. I need him to keep this family alive," she added, with tears rolling down her checks.

Ghaliyah is one of thousands of Iraqi wives desperate for any information about their beloved husbands.

There are no official estimates of detainees in Iraqi custody, but human rights advocates asserted that most of them have not been given the right to have their day in court.

"The government is working hard to speed up all investigations and interrogations," Col. Abdul-Kareem Rafel, a senior Interior Ministry official, told IOL.

"People taken for interrogations are being released after that and if something is found, they are sent to court," he said.

"Families are receiving information but in some cases, they insist that a relative is in our custody though there isn't information about them in our files."

"I Miss Dad"

Badra Ahmed, 27, was luckier than Ghaliyah.

She found her husband seven months after his detention.

"He hardly found strength to speak to us," she told IOL.

"He kept asking about the children and told me to sell our home to raise money to pay for the lawyer and to feed our three kids," she added.

"His mother is very sick and I don't know for how long she can stand his absence.

She says her husband is being held on terror charges.

"What hurts me is being sure my husband doesn't have anything to do with terrorism.

"He is a gentle man who worked hard to raise a family. He wouldn't risk all that."

Badra insists that her husband is being grilled about something he didn't do.

"My kids cry every night and ask me about their father."

Nearby, six-year-old Ra'ad has his eyes glued to the prison entrance, hoping to get a glimpse of his father.

"I miss dad," he told IOL.

He has not seen his father, Mussawi al-Rabia'a, since he was arrested in February.

"I don't know why the police aren't letting us see him. I came with mom so many times and every time they tell us to come back the other day," said a tearful Ra'ad.

"Dad isn't a bad person. I love him and want him back to play with me and bring candies as he used to do.

"I want to hug him. God will help bring him home very soon."