Saudi Gazette report RIYADH — Media reports about the torture of Saudi prisoners in Iraq are true but such reports lead to an escalation of violence against them, said a Saudi who returned to the Kingdom after spending more than eight years in various Iraqi prisons including the infamous Abu Ghuraib, Al-Watan daily reported on Friday. Jamal Al-Gharwi, 28, said Saudi prisoners in Iraq who return to the Kingdom should not talk to the media about the torture they were subjected to by Iraqi prison authorities. “This will lead to a new wave of torture against other Saudis who are still detained there. Increased efforts should be made to bring home all Saudi prisoners in Iraq,” he said. Al-Gharwi said some Iraqi prisons, such as Al-Tajee, use cruel methods of torture against Saudi prisoners like hitting them repeatedly with batons. Al-Gharwi was arrested by American officers in Mosul after illegally crossing into Iraq in 2004. He was put in the Abu Ghuraib Prison for a year and a half before it was closed. He was transferred to other prisons before finally taken to Sousa Prison where he spent around seven years. Al-Gharwi was released before completing the 10-year prison term because of his good conduct. He returned to the Kingdom via Abu Dhabi. Even though Al-Gharwi refused to be interviewed, his mother, who had been patient throughout his imprisonment, thanked everyone who helped in his release. “I hope all prisoners will be freed like my son. The government did its best and I am very thankful. This is their son and they treated him with the utmost generosity. They followed up on his case since he left the country and till now. They have been following up on the case all this time,” she told Al Arabiya news channel. Al-Ghawi's father, who had lost his memory, seemed to get it back when he saw his son. Even the children were happy on his return. Some of the younger family members such as his three-year-old niece only know him through his old pictures or have heard about him from family conversations. “We did not notice anything odd about him. He was a normal person and was loved by all his neighbors. He was optimistic and had dreams for the future. We were taken by surprise when we found out he was there… in Iraq and when we heard about the verdict from the papers,” said one relative. “He is my brother. I only know him through news, I hear about him and I knew he was in Iraq. I know about him from the pictures we have of him at home,” said Gharwi's younger brother. There are still 57 Saudis who are waiting to return to their home country. The Saudi-Iraqi security committee is still holding meetings about implementing prisoner swap agreements. In January 20 Saudi detainees were tortured in Iraqi prisons following Iraq's national team's loss at the Gulf Cup football tournament. They were beaten by the UAE in a match supervised by a Saudi referee, according to Thamer Balheed, head of the Saudi detainees in Iraq.
