Abu Ghraib Prison
February 23, 2009
Most readers will no doubt have heard recently of the re-opening of Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq. It is now to operate under the new name of “Baghdad Central Prison”. In our opinion this is highly controversial! It appears likely that this ill-advised decision has been made without proper (or any) consideration of the potential negative public relations impact. This seems clear from the following quote from Mohammed al-Zeidi, the assistant director of the Iraqi Rehabilitation Department:
“We turned it into something like a resort not prison. The first step was to change the name.”
in a quote is from this recent article. What’s next – a swimming pool?
Surely it is impossible for the prison to escape its dark reputation as a place of human rights abuses (which include torture) committed by the coalition forces against Iraqi prisoners since 2004*. Would it not be preferable and much wiser to build a new facility for detaining prisoners? To start afresh somewhere new where it could be ensured that basic human rights are always respected? Surely this would not break the bank of the coalition forces. No doubt such a symbolic effort would be appreciated by the Iraqi people.
The site of Abu Ghraib should never be used as a prison again.
Luke & Evan.
* more on this at wikipedia
