Reports on torture of Saudis ‘doing more harm than good’

A Saudi recently released from an Iraqi jail after serving over seven years says that media reports of torture in that country's prisons did inmates more harm than good.
Jamal Yahya Al-Gharawi was reported as saying that Saudis in Iraqi jails were beaten more often when they were to be released. He spoke to the media about him being tortured.
Al-Gharawi, made these comments in a telephone conversation with a local newspaper during his stopover at Abu Dhabi airport hours before his flight to the Kingdom.
He completed seven years and seven months of his 10-year sentence.
Al-Gharawi said he was detained in six prisons after being charged with entering Iraqi territory in an irregular manner. He was arrested in Mosul by American forces and detained in the notorious Abu Ghraib prison for a year and a half until it was closed.
Al-Gharawi was then transferred to the Camp Cropper airport prison after it was opened, and remained there for weeks, after which he was transferred to Badush prison, where he spent seven months, before being transferred to Susa prison in Sulaimaniya where he completed his sentence.
He was released early for good behavior, taken to the Second Rasfiya for released detainees, then to Al-Eqamah and finally transported out of Iraq.
"The talk of torture does not help, but rather hurts us. Our brothers were executed, which is far worse than torture." He said there must be some way to help get Saudi detainees released.
Al-Gharawi added that Saudi detainees were treated differently in prisons across Iraq. They were most severely beaten in prisons such as Al-Taji, where detainees were often given surprise beatings with sticks by Special Forces soldiers.
The Saudi charge d' affaires in Jordan, Dr. Hamad Al-Hajri, revealed earlier to a local newspaper that a delegation from the Saudi Embassy in Jordan is planning to visit Saudi detainees in Iraqi prisons during the coming period.
In earlier reports, Deputy Iraqi Ambassador in Riyadh Dr. Maad Al-Obeidi revealed that there are 61 Saudi prisoners in Iraqi prisons, with 90 percent sentenced for involvement in or committing terror acts.
He also revealed that the Iraqi embassy in Riyadh applied two and a half months ago for permission to visit Saudi prisoners in Iraqi prisons, but have not yet received a reply. He said that during the five years he spent at the Iraqi Embassy in Riyadh, there was not a single visit to Saudi prisoners in Iraq.
He said there are 111 Iraqis jailed in Saudi prisons.