Jordan Times
Monday, January 19, 2004
20 citizens released from Iraq detention arrive home
By Alia Shukri Hamzeh and Dalya Dajani
AMMAN — Twenty Jordanian prisoners released by the US-led forces in Iraq arrived here on Sunday after an 11-month detention.Received by their overjoyed families, the 20 men appeared in good health upon arrival yesterday afternoon at Marka Airport on board two International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) airplanes.
Carrying flowers and sweets, Um Ayman was relieved when she saw her 23-year-old son, who was arrested months ago while searching his uncle, a truck driver on the Amman-Baghdad highway. “We did not really have any information about him except for occasional reassurances of his well-being from some of his friends who returned,” said 60-year-old Um Ayman, dressed in traditional bedouin madraga. “We did, however, manage to send letters to him through the Red Cross.”
The government had made extensive contacts with the US-led coalition authority to secure the release of around 37 Jordanians, detained by US forces since the fall of the Iraqi regime.
Head of ICRC's Communications in Amman Muin Kassis said delegates from the international organisation visited the citizens during their detention.
“The 20 Jordanians appeared to be in very good shape. The ICRC staff visited them and examined their conditions in line with our working modality,” Kassis told The Jordan Times.
The detainees, mostly university students, drivers and workers, managed to dispatch an appeal to the government several months ago urging intervention for their release.
They said they travelled to Iraq during the war to look for their stranded relatives, or to offer humanitarian assistance, while others were studying at Iraqi universities.
Some of the men said they were mistreated by the coalition forces during their detention. A young and weary Ali Saleh told reporters yesterday he was exposed to long interrogation sessions on a daily basis. His fellow prisoner, Abdul Mohsen Shadfan, said he was badly treated by both Iraqi and US forces.
Last month, five citizens arrived home after they were released from a detention centre in Iraq's southern port town of Um Qasr.
Another 12 Jordanians, however, remain in custody in Iraq, according to officials. Security officials said they had little background information on prisoners.