The hostages
One or more members of the overwhelming majority of the families deported was detained. Although the majority of the detainees were men between the ages of 16 and 40, there were also some younger boys and a small number of women, girls and babies. The pretext for the detentions was that the detainees were 'Iranian citizens living in Iraq' i.e. that they were being interned as Iranians for the duration of the Iraq/Iran war. However this contention is not supported by the facts, since the hostage taking started some six months prior to the commencement of this war and all the hostages had been born in Iraq and had Iraqi citizenship papers
(see appendices B and I , photos 10 to 13). Since it is against Iraqi law for non-nationals to serve in the army, the fact that many of the detainees were conscripts in the Iraqi army gives further evidence that this pretext is not based on fact.(see appendix B)
The Committee for the Release of Hostages and Detainees in Iraq believes that the real reason for these detentions and subsequently keeping the hostages alive was to prevent public protest or concerted action by the deported families to fight for the restoration of their citizenship rights, property and belongings by the Iraqi State.
Humanitarian organisations, such as the International Red Cross and the Iranian Red crescent, as well as the Iranian authorities, state fairly definitely that the total number of individuals expelled from Iraq to Iran is close to one million. However estimates of the total number of hostages taken are much more approximate. The assumption that on average one hostage was detained for every ten deportees gives a figure of approximately 100,000 hostages detained initially. However, this figure is purely a guesstimate based on and supported by considerable anecdotal evidence. (In some cases, as many as twelve hostages were taken from one family.
(see Dr. Ketuly’s testimony in appendix A)
In view of the dearth of information from the Iraqi authorities, it is unrealistic for the Committee to attempt to estimate the number of hostages remaining in detention. The only figure that can be provided is a lower bound of about four thousand individuals, but the true figure may be many times this. At present the Committee has full details of 935 hostages`18] and is aware of another three thousand, whose families are worried about give information for fear of reprisals.
Hostage taking started on 4 April 1980 in Baghdad, followed by the central and southern areas of Iraq. The families of men not doing military service were initially kept together. In the Baghdad area, Kirkuk and the centre and south of Iraq the whole family was taken to the local police station from which they were transferred to the Deportation Centre near the Al Shaab Sports Complex in Baghdad. After two to four weeks in detention the younger men (and in some cases women) were separated from their families and taken to the General Security Prison, where they were detained for a further one or two weeks, before being transferred to the Abu Ghraeb Prison Heavy Sentence Section. In other parts of the country hostages were transferred to Abu Graeb directly after a period of detention in a local prison.
Young men on military service were first detained in their military barracks. In the Baghdad area these detainees were then transferred to Al Harthia military barracks, where they were imprisoned for one or two weeks, before being transferred to Al Rashid Military Prison no. 1. After a period of two to six months detention here they were taken to the Ministry of Defence Prison, from where they were again, after two to seven days, transferred, this time to the General Security Prison. Here they were stripped of their military uniforms, had their military and citizenship documents confiscated and were interrogated individually at length. They were formally accused of being Iranians.
From 1980 onwards the majority of the 'military' detainees were transferred in groups and at intervals to Abu Ghraeb Prison where they joined the non-military hostages already there, as well as 'military' detainees from other parts of Iraq. The remainder were transferred to Al Fathalia Prison in Baghdad.