http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5270914/site/newsweek/Saddam’s Prison Letter
The captive Iraqi tells his family to ‘say hello to everyone’—and his lawyer claims that the former dictator’s human rights are being violated in jail
Jailed Saddam: Family members are distressed that only one of his letters have been delivered
WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Rod Nordland
Newsweek
Updated: 4:54 p.m. ET June 22, 2004June 22 - Military censors have blacked out nine of the 14 lines. But in what remains of his letter, Saddam Hussein assures his family that “my spirit and my morale, they are high, thanks to greatness of God.”
The message—apparently the first and only letter the former Iraqi dictator has sent to his family since his capture last December—is on a standard “family message” form provided by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). It is addressed simply “to my daughter,” and was delivered to the family by the ICRC after they visited Saddam on Feb. 21. The letter, apparently in Saddam’s handwriting, was shown to NEWSWEEK by Muhammed al Rushadan, a Jordanian lawyer retained by Saddam’s family.
Rushadan is currently on a visit to the United States, where he hopes to make the case that his client's human rights are being violated and that he's being held in violation of the Geneva Conventions. In addition, says Rushadan, he believes Saddam is being mistreated like some of the prisoners at Abu Ghraib were. "There are fresh wounds on his body," he said, citing a Red Cross document he claims to have. "I say to the ICRC that you should do your job under Article 10 of the Geneva Conventions, or you should quit your job."
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The letter begins, "In the name of God the Merciful," followed by six lines that are blacked out. Then it resumes "To my small family and my big family, salaam alekum." Then another three lines are blacked out, followed by "As for my spirit and my morale, they are high, thanks to greatness of God. And say hello to everyone." The signed letter is heavily censored by U.S. military authorities who are holding Saddam, so much so that the substance of it is almost entirely missing. "Two-thirds of it are blacked out," Rushadan says, "and there are only 17 words you can read, there's not enough to understand the meaning very well."
According to the Red Cross’s Doumani, the Geneva Conventions do give the detaining authority the right to censor prisoners’ letters. "I don't think all the messages that he has written to the family have been delivered," she says. "I can't confirm how many others there were, but it's important to stress that this is clearly because of censorship and is not the fault of the ICRC."
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