The man in the most famous image from the 2003 torture and prisoner abuse scandal at the notorious Abu Ghraib Prison gave a rare interview to al-Araby al-Jadeed’s Iraq correspondent, Othman al-Mukhtar, describing his harrowing ordeal during his detention.
Ali Shallal al-Qaisi, who has undergone six surgeries because of the torture he was subjected to, detailed his experience from his arrest until release after the images were leaked to human rights organisations.
“I wasn’t a military commander or a government official. I was just a resident of Baghdad, where I grew up, and just like any other Iraqi I was against the US invasion and I spoke out against it,” Qaisi said.
He explained that he owned a football pitch in the al-Amiriya district of Baghdad and after the invasion began in March 2003, US soldiers appropriated the pitch and used it to dump “severed body parts and left over waste from fighting”.
Qaisi contacted the foreign media and broke the story to them. “My picture was published in a news article with my complaints. The Americans then raided my home and arrested me,” he said. He was first taken to a detention centre in his neighbourhood for interrogation before he was transferred to Abu Ghraib prison. More here.