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Abu Ghraib Prisoner Becomes Prison Rights Activist

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Ali Shalal Qaissi is the former Abu Ghraib prisoner in the photo of the hooded prisoner standing on a box connected to electrodes. He's still angry and doing something about it.

There is the mangled hand, an old injury that became infected by the shackles chafing his skin. There is the slight limp, made worse by days tied in uncomfortable positions. And most of all, there are the nightmares of his nearly six-month ordeal at Abu Ghraib prison in 2003 and 2004.

Mr. Qaissi is now an Iraq prison rights activist:

With a thick shock of gray hair and melancholy eyes, Mr. Qaissi is today a self-styled activist for prisoners' rights in Iraq. Shortly after being released from Abu Ghraib in 2004, he started the Association of Victims of American Occupation Prisons with several other men immortalized in the Abu Ghraib pictures.

Financed partly by Arab nongovernmental organizations and private donations, the group's aim is to publicize the cases of prisoners still in custody, and to support prisoners and their families with donations of clothing and food.

....Mr. Qaissi has traveled the Arab world with his computer slideshows and presentations, delivering a message that prisoner abuse by Americans and their Iraqi allies continues. He says that as the public face of his movement, he risks retribution from Shiite militias that have entered the Iraqi police forces and have been implicated in prisoner abuse. But that has not stopped him.

Amazingly, he is not angry at the U.S. He just wants to prevent future abuse.

Despite the cruelty he witnessed, Mr. Qaissi said he harbored no animosity toward America or Americans. "I forgive the people who did these things to us," he said. "But I want their help in preventing these sorts of atrocities from continuing."

As to the infamous picture:

Then there is the picture of Mr. Qaissi himself, standing atop a cardboard box, taken 15 days into his detention. He said he had only recently been given a blanket after remaining naked for days, and had fashioned the blanket into a kind of poncho.

The guards took him to a heavy box filled with military meal packs, he said, and hooded him. He was told to stand atop the box as electric wires were attached to either hand. Then, he claims, they shocked him five times, enough for him to bite his tongue.

Jeanne D'Arc at Body and Soul and Heretik add their thoughts.

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    Re: Abu Ghraib Prisoner Becomes Prison Rights Acti (none / 0) (#1)
    by Al on Sat Mar 11, 2006 at 03:01:04 PM EST
    "I forgive the people who did these things to us," he said. "But I want their help in preventing these sorts of atrocities from continuing."
    Wow. There's a lesson in civilization. Thus, Mr. Qaissi's famous picture goes from being an icon of the sorry state of human rights today, to also being an icon of hope for tomorrow. I really hope people like Mr. Qaissi will prevail some day.

    Makes one proud to be an American.

    Re: Abu Ghraib Prisoner Becomes Prison Rights Acti (none / 0) (#3)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Mar 11, 2006 at 08:01:34 PM EST
    Here 's a great article about another courageous person.