Everett Iraqi says U.S. soldiers abused him

EVERETT – An Iraqi refugee who returned home to visit relatives says he was detained and severely mistreated by U.S. soldiers for 12 days.

Jawad al-Hamid, 34, of Everett, told the Herald newspaper the soldiers didn’t feed him or let him use a restroom for several days, fastened his handcuffs so tight that he was left with scars on his wrists and pushed him to the floor of his tiny cell.

Al-Hamid said he was in Iraq from Oct. 23 to Jan. 19 to visit family in Basra.

U.S. Army spokesman Lt. Col. Barry Johnson told the newspaper by telephone from Baghdad that he could not comment on the allegations until the Army conducts an investigation.

Al-Hamid showed a Herald reporter a black-and-white videotape of his wrists, which appeared to be marked by deep gashes and dried blood. The video was shot in Basra two to three days after his release from Army detention, he said.

Al-Hamid then pulled up his sleeves to reveal scars, which he said are from his mistreatment.

“My hands still hurt me every day,” al-Hamid said. “It feels numb.”

Al-Hamid said he kept asking, “Why am I here? I don’t do nothing. They always told me, ‘Shut the (expletive) up.’ ” Sometimes soldiers pushed him to the floor, he said.

The night before he was released, an officer warned al-Hamid not to tell anyone what had happened, he said.

Al-Hamid said he came to Everett as a political refugee in 2000 after spending nine years in a Saudi Arabian refugee camp. He said he fled Iraq after participating in protests against Saddam Hussein. His father, he said, was fatally poisoned by Hussein’s henchmen for publicly insulting the dictator.

Al-Hamid said he tried unsuccessfully to file a complaint with the Army on Feb. 3 at an Army recruiting station in Everett.

Johnson said al-Hamid should file a complaint with the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command, which has investigators in the Puget Sound area.

“We’re more than willing to do an investigation into any allegations,” Johnson said.