AMMAN/BAGHDAD, 7 December (IRIN) - Three Jordanians who were freed from Iraqi jails last November said they were subjected to "indescribable psychological and physical torture" by the US forces during detention.

The Jordanians - Hassan Sharafat, 56, Naji al-Waladat, 35, and Ahmed Rashad al-Jabaari, 35 - said on Tuesday in a press conference organised by the Arab Organisation for Human Rights (AOHR) that they were held for more than three years without a court order. Sharafat and Waladat worked as truck drivers between Jordan and Iraq while al-Jabaari was a businessman in Iraq.

The three men said they were hog-tied, blindfolded, sexually abused, deprived of sleep and denied medical care.

"During the first week, they put a bag on my head, hit me with the back of their guns, urinated on me, insulted me verbally and assaulted me sexually," said Sharafat, a father of 11.

Sharafat was arrested while he was returning to Amman in an Iraqi taxi.

The Iraqi human rights ministry said that the accusations were serious and should be investigated by the government in Baghdad, and those responsible should be punished.

"It is not the first time that US troops are accused of human rights abuse in our country and such accusations should be well investigated to prevent more abuses taking place in our country," said Diar Ahmed, press officer at Iraq's Ministry of Human Rights.

No official figures were available on the number of Jordanian prisoners in Iraq, but according to the three men's testimony, at least 100 Jordanians are languishing in different prisons in Baghdad, Basra and the north. Human rights groups said at least 80 Jordanians were missing in Iraq.

"We do not know exactly how many Jordanians are held in Iraqi prisons today and what the charges against them are but we hope we can be told soon about their numbers as well as the number of other [foreign] Arabs," Ahmed said.

Emotional scars

Waladat, who was arrested after a US military vehicle ran over a roadside bomb near his truck, said that he might be free physically, but the emotional scars caused by the torture were going to stay with him forever.

"It took me five minutes in front of the judge to prove my innocence, but I had to wait three years before the verdict," Waladat said.

Al-Jabaari, the third of the group of former prisoners, said he became diabetic while in prison due to the stress caused by torture.

Prisoners' Association for Justice (PAJ), a Baghdad-based organisation that looks after prisoners' rights, said that at least two Jordanian ex-detainees have told the PAJ that they were tortured and were badly treated while they were being held in Iraqi prisons.

"We have alerted many NGOs from different Arab countries about the conditions of their nationals in Iraqi prisons but according to our information nothing has been done to change their situation and we urge those countries to start making contact with the Iraqi government to free their prisoners before such torture leads to their death," said Khalid Rabia'a, spokesman for PAJ.

Hani Dahelh, head of AOHR, said he will work closely with the Jordan Bar Association to file a lawsuit against the US "for its gross violation of human rights".

"These men's live was ruined. We do not know how many others are suffering silently," said Dahelh, adding that he called on the Jordanian government to work on releasing those still in Iraqi jails.

Officials from Jordan's Foreign Ministry said they were working closely with officials at the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad to guarantee the release of Jordanian prisoners in Iraq.

When contacted by IRIN, the US military in Iraq said they were investigating the accusations.

mbh/as/ar/ed

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