Ex-Abu Ghraib inmate captured in photo advocates for human rights
Hassan M. Fattah
New York Times
Houston Chronicle, US
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Amman, (Jordan):
Shalal Qaissi's wounds are still raw.There is the mangled hand, an old injury that became infected by the shackles chafing his skin.
There is the slight limp, made worse by days tied in uncomfortable positions. And most of all, there are the nightmares of his nearly six-month ordeal at Abu Ghraib Prison in 2003 and 2004.Qaissi, 43, was prisoner 151716 of Cellblock 1A.
The picture of him standing hooded atop a cardboard box, attached to electrical wires with his arms stretched wide in an eerily prophetic pose, became an indelible symbol of the torture at Abu Ghraib.
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See Also:
US to close notorious Abu Ghraib
Iraq won't use Abu Ghraib after US quits jail
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The U.S. military said Thursday that it will abandon the prison and turn it over to the Iraqi government. Iraq said Friday that it will close the prison.Qaissi is today a self-styled activist for prisoners' rights in Iraq.
Shortly after being released from Abu Ghraib in 2004, he started the Association of Victims of American Occupation Prisons with several other men immortalized in the Abu Ghraib pictures.
Qaissi said he harbors no animosity toward America or Americans. "I forgive the people who did these things to us," he said. "But I want their help in preventing these sorts of atrocities from continuing."
Hassan M. Fattah
New York Times
Houston Chronicle, US
________________
Amman, (Jordan):
Shalal Qaissi's wounds are still raw.There is the mangled hand, an old injury that became infected by the shackles chafing his skin.
There is the slight limp, made worse by days tied in uncomfortable positions. And most of all, there are the nightmares of his nearly six-month ordeal at Abu Ghraib Prison in 2003 and 2004.Qaissi, 43, was prisoner 151716 of Cellblock 1A.
The picture of him standing hooded atop a cardboard box, attached to electrical wires with his arms stretched wide in an eerily prophetic pose, became an indelible symbol of the torture at Abu Ghraib.
_______________
See Also:
US to close notorious Abu Ghraib
Iraq won't use Abu Ghraib after US quits jail
________________
The U.S. military said Thursday that it will abandon the prison and turn it over to the Iraqi government. Iraq said Friday that it will close the prison.Qaissi is today a self-styled activist for prisoners' rights in Iraq.
Shortly after being released from Abu Ghraib in 2004, he started the Association of Victims of American Occupation Prisons with several other men immortalized in the Abu Ghraib pictures.
Qaissi said he harbors no animosity toward America or Americans. "I forgive the people who did these things to us," he said. "But I want their help in preventing these sorts of atrocities from continuing."
