Perspective: 'I thought I would not stand the torture'

Picture of a 'detainee' after being released by the Ministry of the Interior

BAGHDAD, 29 April 2007 (IRIN) - Saleh Nizar, a 58-year-old gardener, says he was tortured in an Iraqi prison after he was arrested and accused of participating in an attack in the capital, Baghdad. He was arrested on 15 October 2006 and set free on 5 April 2007 after he was helped by a senior Iraqi officer who said that Nizar was his gardener and that he was definitely innocent.

As result of the torture he endured, one of his legs sustained serious injuries and doctors said it might require amputation. Nizar, who has a heart condition which he did not receive treatment for while in prison, now spends much of his time in hospitals and clinics trying to stay alive.

"For the nearly six months that I was in prison I didn't have a day of peace. Either they were torturing me or shouting at me, using the ugliest words, accusing me of being a Saddam Hussein follower who deserved the same fate as his."

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