Written Report of Iranian POWs to UN Representatives

Following a visit by representatives of the United Nations to the camps holding Iranian prisoners in Iraq, a group of prisoners from Mosul Camp No. 4 (formerly Mosul Camp No. 3) prepared a multi-page report ^[1] documenting the mistreatment, torture, martyrdom of a number of prisoners in the camps, living conditions, and non-compliance with the Geneva Convention in dealing with prisoners. They had it translated and handed it over to these representatives.

On October 10, 1984, at the Naharkhoran Camp in Gorgan, one of the camps for Iraqi prisoners in Iran, a clash broke out in the presence of Red Cross delegates between prisoners known as Tawwabin and Muminin [penitents and believers] and Ba'athist prisoners, which resulted in the killing of three of the Tawwab and Mumin prisoners and the wounding of several others. After the clash escalated and the Ba'athists ignored the warnings of the guards, Iranian soldiers used batons and tear gas, and in the next stage, to protect the lives of the Red Cross delegates, they were compelled to fire warning shots into the air and then at ground level below the knees.

According to the United Nations mission report (S/16962) ^[2], nine prisoners lost their lives in this incident (three at the hands of their fellow countrymen and the rest from gunfire), 47 were wounded and hospitalized, and many others sustained minor injuries treated on the spot.

The Iraqi government, having been informed of the deaths of its prisoners through the Red Cross, requested the UN Secretary-General to form a mission to investigate the incident. In the meantime, the terrorist Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) also used the issue to mount propaganda against Iran in international circles. The Islamic Republic of Iran agreed to the request on the condition that the situation of Iranian prisoners in Iraq also be examined. Thus, an independent fact-finding mission was established by order of the UN Secretary-General to investigate the situation of prisoners of war and the claims of both Iran and Iraq regarding POWs, and it conducted visits to the camps holding prisoners in both countries. ^[3]

Iranian prisoners at Mosul Camp No. 4 learned of the imminent arrival of a UN delegation through periodic visits by Red Cross delegates. For this reason, they took the initiative and set about preparing a report on the conduct and practices of Ba'athist officers:

"The camp had an underground organization and cohesive leadership. So from the moment we learned that a UN delegation might come to the camp, we anticipated that Ba'athist officers might accompany the delegation and prevent our fellow prisoners from verbally expressing the tortures, harassment, and massacres. So we planned to prepare a text covering the Ba'athists' conduct and find a way to secretly hand it over to the delegation. "

Even though paper and pen had not yet been permitted, these resourceful prisoners, with minimal access to paper and writing materials, prepared a report containing all the illegal conduct of Ba'athist officers and the camp's conditions and facilities, translated it into English, and placed it at the delegation's disposal.

"A group of prisoners identified as troublemakers had been gathered from other camps and brought to Mosul Camp No. 4. For this reason, those in this camp represented a cross-section of all the camps and could retain in their memory the news and history of captivity, meaning those who had been in Intelligence, in Anbar, Ramadi, Mosul 1, 2, 3, between the cages, and elsewhere. On this basis, we secretly asked them to share their information with us. Information was gathered through the camp leaders and those responsible for cultural affairs in each ward. We relayed questions through the cultural officers of the wards to groups that had information and asked them to write down the information on small pieces of paper (made from laundry powder packets and cigarette paper) and pass them to me. Once the information was collected, at night in the ward, in a hidden spot where I wouldn't be seen, whether sitting or lying down, I would write on cigarette papers or laundry powder boxes and then hide them. Because paper, pens, and pencils were forbidden, we tore them into small pieces and hid them in the seams of clothing or between blankets. Ultimately, this information was gathered over a period of more than two or three months, and wherever we found contradictions, we corrected them with the help of informed groups, so that nothing untrue would be written in the report. We aimed to include facts with names, dates, locations, and the names of the Iraqis involved in those events. The reports were translated into English and transcribed onto brown paper resembling cement bag paper, actually paper from Baghdad cigarette packs, which I then kept. I wrote the material very small and meticulously, and after finishing, I folded them into a very small size, placed them in a matchbox, and hid them in a secret place to later give to UN officials."

The mission visited Iraq from January 11 to 17, 1985:

"The UN delegation arrived with a large contingent, including their own military personnel. The Iraqis left. The camp was emptied of Iraqis. Only the UN representatives remained. Their head was a Venezuelan general. He was white-skinned. Engineer Zardbani gave the report to the general. He was surprised. He said, 'Why have you written this on such paper?' The engineer explained that having paper here was forbidden. The general was even more surprised. He read the report. He spoke with everyone. He inspected the points mentioned in the report one by one, the baths, the toilets, the solitary confinement cells, the hospital, those who had been wounded during captivity. The inspection of the camp took a week."

"About two or three months later, we asked the Red Cross delegates who came to the camp:

'When the UN representatives visited the camps, what happened and what did they do?' They said: 'After visiting the camps in Iraq, they went to Iran and also visited the camps there, and published a report on both countries. It was very surprising for us that despite coming to the camp every month and speaking with you, the report contained things we had not understood over all these years, and this astonished all the Red Cross staff, as to how the UN could have obtained such detailed and extensive information in just a few hours!' Of course, we knew that the published UN report was based on the one we had prepared. In this way, we felt we had fulfilled our duty and made the best use of the opportunity that had come our way."

The mission condemned Iran for "cultural and ideological measures on Iraqi prisoners" and Iraq for "torture, harassment, and mistreatment of Iranian prisoners." It should be noted that the cultural and ideological measures meant that Iraqi prisoners enjoyed opportunities for education, learning, freedom of pen and paper, and even leaving the camp to attend Friday prayers and visit holy sites, whereas Iranian prisoners were deprived of such privileges. Regarding the torture, harassment, and mistreatment of Iranian prisoners, the UN Secretary-General's report explicitly states:

"Prisoners of war provided extensive information on physical mistreatment with instruments such as whips, beatings with clubs or cables, simultaneous blows to both ears, electric shocks, blows to the genitals and kicks to these organs, as well as blows and kicks to wounded limbs. Physical violence appeared to be particularly prevalent in POW camps in Iraq. We also received information on collective punishment measures such as prolonged detention and deprivation of food and water. While we could not reach definitive conclusions regarding the truth of individual allegations, we heard many similar complaints from prisoners in different camps, and they showed us signs, injuries, wounds, etc., which were consistent with the allegations."

Footnotes

[1]. In the memoirs of freed prisoners, the number of pages in this report has been cited as ranging from thirty to one hundred.

[2]. The mission's report was published on February 22, 1985 under document number S/16962.

[3]. The members of this mission were: Professor Wolfram Karl (Professor of International Law at the University of Salzburg, Austria), Professor Terkel Ovesal (Professor of Constitutional Law and International Law at the University of Oslo, Norway), Major General Rafael Angel Val Huerta (Military Advisor and Permanent Delegate of Venezuela to the United Nations), Nebong Swan (Director of the UN Secretariat), and Francis Wonderl (Senior Political Affairs Officer). (Quoted from the UN Secretary-General's note, Payam-e Azadegan Institute Archive.)

See also

• Captivity and Prisoners
• Prisoners of War
• Intelligence (Iraqi)
• Torture
• Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO)