Incident: Ministry of Interior tortures Ali with electricity, collective punishment

According to his story archived at Occupation Watch, Mustafa Mohammed Ali claims that today he was arrested by paramilitary police from the Iraqi Interior Ministry's Wolf Brigade. The Wolf Brigade and Ministry for the Interior will feature heavily in future allegations of torture and mistreatment. His arrest was one of thousands during Operation Lightning.

Four days into his detention, Ali claims that Wolf Brigade commandos attached attached electrical wires to his ear and his genitals, and generated a current with a hand-cranked military telephone. In their attempt to extract a confession, his interrogators told him his picture had been found on the camera phone of a man involved in the assassination of Iraqi politician Aqila al-Hashemi in September 2003.

Ali will state that he believes the arrests were sectarian, reflecting the reported sentiment among Sunnis that these sweeps are a form of collective punishment. Ali reports that a general addressed the detainees before their release, and told them that they should think of their detention "as a punishment for those who sympathise with the terrorists".