Thursday, April 12, 2007
ICRC official says Shafari tortured during detention
Iran, U.S., Iraq
(Al Jazeera, Agencies) - Iranian state television has shown officials from the International Committee of the Red Cross examining an Iranian diplomat who has accused the CIA of torturing him while he was detained in Iraq. Jalal Sharafi was shown in a hospital bed being examined by Peter Stocker from the ICRC and the Iraqi ambassador in footage broadcast on Wednesday.
During the examination, the voice of a doctor could be heard describing how Sharafi - formerly the second-most senior official in Iran's embassy in Baghdad - had been beaten with a cable during his detention. After his visit to the diplomat, Stocker told The Associated Press that he saw wounds on Sharafi's body that "were several weeks old", but said he did not know how the injuries occurred. "I cannot say who did it and where it happened," the ICRC official said. "I can only say that it happened during his detention."
Stocker was accompanied to the hospital by Majid Sheikh, the Iraqi ambassador to Iran. Earlier in the week, Sharafi's Iranian doctors had reported that holes had been drilled into his foot, but the TV images were not clear enough to indicate whether the small, red marks on his foot were indeed holes. Doctors also reported earlier that he had suffered a broken nose, serious injuries to his back, bleeding in his digestive system, and damage to his ears.
None of these injuries has been independently verified, nor were they discernible from the TV footage. Footage released by Iranian TV showed Jalal Sharafi in hospital being examined by doctors. A spokeswoman for the ICRC in Tehran, Katayoun Hosseinnejad, confirmed the visit to Sharafi had taken place and said it had been initiated by the Iranians.
Sharafi was released from Iraq last week and later said that the CIA had questioned him about Iran's relations with Iraq and its assistance to various Iraqi groups. US officials have repeatedly said that Iran provides money and weapons to Shia militias in Iraq. Iran has denied this. On Wednesday the US military put more weapons on display in Baghdad that it said were made in Iran. An army spokesmen said that Iran had trained Iraqi insurgents in the use of roadside bombs as recently as last month.
During the examination, the voice of a doctor could be heard describing how Sharafi - formerly the second-most senior official in Iran's embassy in Baghdad - had been beaten with a cable during his detention. After his visit to the diplomat, Stocker told The Associated Press that he saw wounds on Sharafi's body that "were several weeks old", but said he did not know how the injuries occurred. "I cannot say who did it and where it happened," the ICRC official said. "I can only say that it happened during his detention."
Stocker was accompanied to the hospital by Majid Sheikh, the Iraqi ambassador to Iran. Earlier in the week, Sharafi's Iranian doctors had reported that holes had been drilled into his foot, but the TV images were not clear enough to indicate whether the small, red marks on his foot were indeed holes. Doctors also reported earlier that he had suffered a broken nose, serious injuries to his back, bleeding in his digestive system, and damage to his ears.
None of these injuries has been independently verified, nor were they discernible from the TV footage. Footage released by Iranian TV showed Jalal Sharafi in hospital being examined by doctors. A spokeswoman for the ICRC in Tehran, Katayoun Hosseinnejad, confirmed the visit to Sharafi had taken place and said it had been initiated by the Iranians.
Sharafi was released from Iraq last week and later said that the CIA had questioned him about Iran's relations with Iraq and its assistance to various Iraqi groups. US officials have repeatedly said that Iran provides money and weapons to Shia militias in Iraq. Iran has denied this. On Wednesday the US military put more weapons on display in Baghdad that it said were made in Iran. An army spokesmen said that Iran had trained Iraqi insurgents in the use of roadside bombs as recently as last month.
Labels: CIA, ICRC, International Committee of the Red Cross, Iran, Jalal Sharafi, Peter Stocker, torture
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Released Iranian diplomat says he was tortured by U.S. forces
Iran, U.S.
(DPA) - An Iranian diplomat who arrived in Tehran Tuesday upon release from Iraq was quoted Saturday as saying he had been kidnapped and tortured there by US forces, the official IRNA news agency reported. 'I was transferred to a base near the Baghdad airport after the Iraqi agents working under the control of the (Central Intelligence Agency) CIA kidnapped me,' Jalal Sharafi, second secretary of Iran's embassy in Baghdad, was quoted as saying by IRNA.
Armed militants dressed as Iraqi soldiers had kidnapped him in the Karada area of central Baghdad on February 4. Iran harshly condemned the abduction as a 'terrorist act'. 'The CIA agents' questions were mainly about Iran's presence and influence in Iraq,' said the diplomat, adding that 'they had severely tortured me when they faced my answers about Iran's official relations with the Iraqi government.'
The allegations follow claims by 15 British naval personnel the previous day that they had been subjected to intense psychological pressure in 13 days of Iranian custody after being seized in the Shatt al-Arab waterway.
Five other Iranians were arrested in January by the US military at a consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil as part of the effort to confront alleged Iranian meddling in Iraq.
Tehran insists the five men were consulate officers and were not involved in militant activities. Washington accuses them of being members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard and providing material support to Shiite militias.
Armed militants dressed as Iraqi soldiers had kidnapped him in the Karada area of central Baghdad on February 4. Iran harshly condemned the abduction as a 'terrorist act'. 'The CIA agents' questions were mainly about Iran's presence and influence in Iraq,' said the diplomat, adding that 'they had severely tortured me when they faced my answers about Iran's official relations with the Iraqi government.'
The allegations follow claims by 15 British naval personnel the previous day that they had been subjected to intense psychological pressure in 13 days of Iranian custody after being seized in the Shatt al-Arab waterway.
Five other Iranians were arrested in January by the US military at a consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil as part of the effort to confront alleged Iranian meddling in Iraq.
Tehran insists the five men were consulate officers and were not involved in militant activities. Washington accuses them of being members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard and providing material support to Shiite militias.
Labels: CIA, Iranian diplomat, Jalal Sharafi, kidnap, torture, U.S.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Iraq govt agency may take over from U.S. led intelligence service
Intelligence
(CNN) The Iraqi National Intelligence Service, or INIS, is funded completely by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, according to military and intelligence sources. Since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, the CIA has placed more than 500 officers in Iraq, according to U.S. intelligence sources, making the station the CIA's largest in the world. The INIS head, the secretive Mohammed Abdullah Shahwani, was appointed three years ago by the United States.
But now, the future of the U.S.-controlled agency appears to be in jeopardy. A document from Iraq's National Security Council lays out a blueprint for Iraq's new intelligence community. Under that plan, all intelligence gathering would be consolidated under Iraq's Iranian-friendly central government. Top Iraqi government officials claim the INIS is beyond the control of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. And Shahwani himself is under Iraqi government investigation for unspecified corruption allegations. He has not been seen in at least three months.
U.S. ally and former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said Shahwani is being unfairly targeted. "I don't know if it's an attack on U.S. intelligence, but definitely it's a political attack on Shahwani," he said. One of Shahwani's rivals is Shirwan al-Wa'eli, Iraq's minister for national security. In the past two years, al-Wa'eli's ministry has grown to some 3,000 operatives, according to U.S. intelligence. Under the new intelligence plan, it would grow even further. Al-Wa'eli applauds his relationship with Iran while distancing himself from the United States.
"The multinational forces are in Iraq, and they are supportive on the security issue and we have a good relationship with them, but we do not bargain Iraq to any side," al-Wa'eli told CNN. "The Americans give us only moral support, not logistical support." The ministry has become an intelligence organization that the United States and its allies never meant it to be. "It's not a ministry per se," Allawi said. "It's a ministry I created. It's a minister, not a ministry, but things have been [spun] around." Iraqi intelligence sources say the new intelligence plan is headed for the Iraqi Parliament.
U.S. ally and former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said Shahwani is being unfairly targeted. "I don't know if it's an attack on U.S. intelligence, but definitely it's a political attack on Shahwani," he said. One of Shahwani's rivals is Shirwan al-Wa'eli, Iraq's minister for national security. In the past two years, al-Wa'eli's ministry has grown to some 3,000 operatives, according to U.S. intelligence. Under the new intelligence plan, it would grow even further. Al-Wa'eli applauds his relationship with Iran while distancing himself from the United States.
"The multinational forces are in Iraq, and they are supportive on the security issue and we have a good relationship with them, but we do not bargain Iraq to any side," al-Wa'eli told CNN. "The Americans give us only moral support, not logistical support." The ministry has become an intelligence organization that the United States and its allies never meant it to be. "It's not a ministry per se," Allawi said. "It's a ministry I created. It's a minister, not a ministry, but things have been [spun] around." Iraqi intelligence sources say the new intelligence plan is headed for the Iraqi Parliament.
Labels: al-Maliki, CIA, INIS, Iraq's minister for national security, Iraq's National Security Council, Iraqi National Intelligence Service, Iyad Allawi, Mohammed Abdullah Shahwani, Shirwan al-Wa'eli
