Enemy Prisoner of War Camps in Iraq

In January 2004, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW), there were 10 Enemy Prisoner of War Camps in Iraq detaining approximately 9,000 prisoners. ("The total number of detainees whose names appeared on the database on January 24 [2004] was 8,968, but the figures may fluctuate substantially from week to week.")


 * "According to information that Human Rights Watch obtained from the U.S. military's database in January 2004, the U.S. is holding detainees at 10 major facilities around Iraq. The largest is Abu Ghraib Prison, also known as the Baghdad Central Correctional Facility or BCCF. Two other major facilities are Camp Bucca in Umm Qasr and Talil Airforce Base south of Baghdad (also known as Whitford Camp)."


 * "Abu Ghraib is itself divided into a number of 'camps.' These include Camp Ganci (with five divisions according to the seriousness of the crime); Camp Vigilant for high security detainees who are subdivided into 'black, gray, and white lists;' a Medical Wing, and another camp for those 'serving time'."

Additional bases in January 2004 were:


 * Al-Rusafa (formerly the Deportations' Prison or Tasfirat) in Baghdad
 * Al-Kadhimiyya in Baghdad (women only)
 * Al-Karkh in Baghdad (juveniles only)
 * Al-Diwaniyya Security Detainee Holding Area
 * Tikrit Detention Facility
 * Mosul Detention Facility
 * MEK (Ashraf Camp), near al-Ramadi ("MEK is the old Ashraf camp used by the Iranian opposition group Mojahedin-e-Khalq (hence MEK) which, according to the U.S. military, does not hold any Iranian detainees but Iraqis accused of serious crimes such as murder and rape." )

"In January 2004," HRW says, "the United States was holding detainees from 21 different nations, including Algeria, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Israeli-occupied Gaza and West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and Yemen." 

HRW reports that the "names and details (including identification number, date and place of arrest, military unit which carried out the arrest, place of detention, charges) of inmates held at these facilities are entered into a central database following initial interrogation and processing." 

"Additionally," HRW says, "there are a number of other detention facilities located in U.S. military compounds, used as temporary facilities for initial or secondary interrogation. These include facilities at Camp Falcon on the outskirts of Baghdad, and Camp Cropper located near Baghdad Airport. Security detainees have been held for up to a week during initial interrogation, and up to a month for secondary interrogation, during which time they have no access to relatives or counsel. Their names and details are entered into the central database only in the event that they are transferred to one of the ten major detention facilities listed above." 

Related SourceWatch resources

 * Abu Ghraib (Additional SourceWatch Resources)
 * Abu Ghraib (External Links)
 * enemy combatant
 * Enemy Prisoner of War
 * Exit Strategy from Iraq
 * extraordinary rendition
 * global detention system
 * Guantanamo Camp Xray
 * Iraqi detainee abuse scandal
 * Legal Arguments for Avoiding the Jurisdiction of the Geneva Conventions
 * Post-war Iraq
 * President's Military Order of November 13, 2001, Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War Against Terrorism
 * prison-industrial complex