Since March 2003, the ICRC has visited more than 12,000 prisoners of war, civilian internees and other detainees held by the Coalition Forces in Iraq to register and monitor their treatment and conditions of detention. Until May 2004, it had also facilitated the exchange of more than 23,000 Red Cross messages between detainees and their families.

One of those visited was 30-year-old Ahmed Hadi Abdul-Hadi, arrested in June 2003 and held for eight and a half months.

After his release Hadi Abdul-Hadi told the ICRC how he was held at various detention centres including Um Qasr in Basrah and Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.

He says he first met ICRC delegates in Um Qasr where he welcomed the chance to write a Red Cross message to his family to reassure them that he was alive and in good health.

Hadi Abdul-Hadi was later transferred to Abu Ghraib where ICRC delegates saw him on two occasions. Initially, he says that the treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib changed for the better only whilst the visits were being conducted, but lasting improvements came, he adds, when the ICRC began to have a more regular presence in detention centres across the country, approaching the Coalition Forces with requests for corrective measures.

Transcript of the interview (from the original Arabic) between an ICRC staff member in Baghdad and former Iraqi detainee, Ahmed Hadi Abdul-Hadi

Can you introduce yourself please?

My name is Ahmed Hadi Abdul-Hadi. I was born in 1974. I was arrested on 7 July 2003 in Al-Mansour district. The number of my registration card is 7951.


How long were you detained?

About eight and a half months. I cannot recall more precisely the duration.


Did you spend all the time at the airport detention facility?

Firstly, I spent a period of time in the Airport prison. Then I was transferred to Um Qasr detention facility where I spent about three and a half months. Then I was transferred to Abu-Ghraib prison after which I was released.


How many times did the Red Cross visit you while you were in detention?

At the time I was arrested, the conditions were not stable. When matters became stable in June, I was transferred to Um Qasr. There, the Red Cross paid me a visit. I met the ICRC delegates. In Abu-Ghraib prison, I met them twice. I wrote a Red Cross message during their first visit in Um Qasr. I met the ICRC about three to four times. But the ICRC delegates used to regularly visit prisons, or at least the camp where I was held.


What was the importance of the Red Cross message? Did it have a positive impact on your family?

Definitely, the Red Cross played a very significant role. The Americans arrested me without prior notice. Therefore, my family and the people whom I work with had no idea about my whereabouts. They thought that I had been robbed and kidnapped. Through the Red Cross messages, which were delivered free of charge directly to my family, my family knew where I was detained. The message, which I wrote, was sent to my house. This by itself is a very important thing, because at that time you could not transmit a message to your family unless via other detainees who were released. But the surest and most reliable way was to transmit a message through the Red Cross. As soon as they received the Red Cross message, my family was reassured that I was still alive and my condition was fine – the ICRC being a well-known body. A Red Cross car and employees of the ICRC delivered the message to the house.


Did you receive a reply to the message?

Honestly speaking, I did not receive a reply, because at that time, though we were imprisoned we could hear the news, and we heard that the Red Cross was attacked and that the overall situation was unstable. For instance, looting reached its highest levels. It was very good that the Red Cross delivered my message, bearing in mind that no one was able to go out in the streets for security reasons.


Did you notice that there were changes in the treatment and the conditions of detention during and after the ICRC's visits to the detention places?

Definitely, during the presence of the ICRC delegates, the treatment of the detaining authorities differed. But when the Red Cross used to leave the premises, the treatment was the same as before. Such things were especially obvious during the first days of detention. Then, matters became more stable because the Red Cross started to visit detention places regularly. The conditions inside the prison began to improve slightly.


Can you give me some examples about the actual improvements, which occurred inside prisons after the ICRC visits?

For example, in winter, every detainee used to have two blankets. One to lay down on, and the other to cover himself. They were not enough. There were no clothes either. Some people were detained while they were wearing their home clothes. The Red Cross delegates to whom we expressed our problems were concerned about our conditions. They transmitted our problems to the highest authorities. Changes never happen on the same day, they occur a little bit later. But they tried to fill the gaps that were present in the prison. Conditions changed afterwards. They played an important role. Let God preserve them and keep them safe during these unstable conditions.