Al-Nujaifi refuses torture in prisons

Speaker of Iraqi Council of Representatives, Osama al-Nujaifi, refused the continuity of torture in Diyala prison, in north east Iraq. After receiving a delegation from Sheikhs and dignitaries from Diyala on Monday, Nujaifi issued a statement in which he refused the continuity of torture in any prison. He pointed out limiting human right abuses and the Council of Representatives formed several investigative committees to address the judiciary. Al-Nujaifi said the province is witnessing conflicts that made people suffer and stressed on the necessity to take a serious national position to adjust the situations of the province. He said the Council of Representatives is ready to help and support in ending the tragic conditions in the province. He warned about an external plan that aims to widen the division in the province, which is known of the coexistence of its people for years. Al-Nujaifi stressed on the importance of stopping the offenders whatever their responsibilities and orientations are, and the importance of preserving people’s dignity, applying the law and justice in order to guarantee stability and coexistence of the Iraqi people with all its components and factions. Al-Nujaifi promised to visit Diyala upon the invitation sent to him by the Sheikhs to be informed about the situation in the province According to the statement Diyala’s Sheikhs confirmed the deterioration of security in the province, and the spread of random arrests according to undercover detectives, as well as reported tortures inside the prisons of the province. They complained about the bad service, lack of water, the deterioration of agriculture and the limited working opportunities. They asked to concentrate on the national reconciliation in order to minimize the problems in the province.Several security forces in Diyala revealed the large number of deaths of several detainees in the security detention through the last three years - mostly because of health conditions, which many political bodies or civil organisations reported repeatedly. Most of the prisons in Diyala which are related to the security services are congested because of the large number of detainees inside them. This helped in the existence of diseases and epidemics. Moreover, the shortage in detective leads to delay in decided about cases, which kept the detainees inside the prison with their cases unsolved, according to local officials. Governor of Diyala, Omar Aziz al-Humairi, was accused this year of failing to plan of upgrading the public service, which was described as “governmental queue.”