Democracy is the protector, not Bayan.

Iraqis have been receiving very disturbing news about prisoners abuse in the detention centers of the interior ministry and what’s really alarming in this incident is that the bad guys weren’t masked men hiding in narrow alleys but were men in uniforms that were supposed to bring us security and peace but unfortunately it appeared to be sometimes doing the exact opposite showing us images of savagery that terrify us in the name of fighting terror.
Everyone here knew some violations were taking place but only now we got to realize the magnitude and organized nature of these outrageous violations.

We have expressed our concerns more than once before when the government was still being formed and there was a big conflict about who should get the interior post and we knew what those parties were aiming at and what we saw yesterday proves that their goal to take over the security instruments rather than preserving security.
We all know how the SCIRI insisted that the commander of Badr brigade Hadi al-Amiri should take the post but they later settled down for Bayan Jabor and it was the internal and foreign opposition to assigning al-Amiri that helped us get the mildest of too bitter choices.

Keeping an eye to prevent such atrocities is rather difficult but at least having an opposition guarantees that that when they happen, there will be people to expose them, speak out and demand justice and this incident proved that democracy and freedom of speech are the real protectors of the people and not this minister or that official.

Minister Jabor appeared in a press conference today and he didn’t deny the abuse yet he said that only 7 prisoners were abused and not 173 as the news originally said and he also denied the claims that the detention center in question is run by Iranian intelligence officers saying that it is actually run by 29 “pure Iraqi” officers.
However, this is not the first case of abuse that got played down by the ministry, few months ago several detainees died of suffocation after being locked up in a cargo container overnight and the ministry then managed to get away with it and investigations were soon forgotten about.
Whether he was telling the truth or not this time cannot be verified immediately but there will be an investigation and the public does not seem willing to let the guilty walk away this time and the truth will hopefully be revealed.

There should be no place among us for another Saddam or for Saddami ways and we cannot accept to let dungeons or basements take away our freedom again.
We are not living in the dark past again to fear asking for justice; we’re in the new Iraq and those who want to steal our freedom shall get nothing but disgrace.