Basra residents call for human rights recognition

Residents of Basra, some 550km south of the capital, are calling for recognition of their human rights following a series of allegations of abusive treatment by local police. This follows the announcement by the central government in Baghdad that security in the south of the country was improving. Though Basra has long been free of sectarian violence, residents say the city is beginning to fragment along Shi’a and Sunni divisions and that, as a result, violence is on the rise. More than 250 civilians have been killed in Basra since the beginning of May. “We urge the government and human rights groups to open their eyes to what is happening in Basra with regard to the lack of human rights, " said Hussein Haydary, a resident of Basra and spokesperson for the Peace Movement for Human Rights (PMHR). "Local police are treating residents badly by using their power without limits.” Haydary says police are particularly brutal at check points and during home raids, lashing out at anyone that challenges their right to do so. This has been collaborated by Ali Jalil, a local resident, who said: “Just because I told them [police] that they do not have the right to search my home without an official letter from the Ministry of Interior, they hit me and my son and forced my wife and daughter out of our house." Jalil went on to claim that he was arrested without any evidence, was tortured for three days in prison and then was dropped some 30km from his home with a stern warning to never disobey the police again. “Our police and military are denying their role by not protecting us, their brothers, and so are causing more pain to our families," said Jalil, adding that local forces are under orders of British and US troops. Local police counter these accusations by claiming that they are there to protect the citizens of Basra and make their lives easier. “We believe that these are isolated cases of abuse of power by some officers but they should not be a reason for residents to lose faith in us," said Major Colonel Hassan Ala’a, a senior officer at the security department in Basra. "We are doing whatever is possible to make them feel secure and protected and we are punishing those involved in any proven cases of abuse.” Ala’a also noted that while British troops currently carry out joint patrols with Iraqi forces in Basra, over the next few months the British presence in the south of Iraq will be scaled down. Local soldiers will then form the main security presence. “We are sure that with British troops far from the south there is a good possibility of a decrease in violence," said Haydary. "But we are not sure yet if there will be much difference in the way the local police deal with our human rights.” AS/AR/AD