Abdul Aziz al-Najifi’s House Prison

This prison was located in a house in the Dawwasa area of Mosul owned by Abdul Aziz al-Najifi, father of both the Nineveh governor, Athil al-Najifi, and the former Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, Osama al-Najifi. After capturing Mosul in 2014, ISIS confiscated the house and converted it into a prison. One of the earliest ISIS prisons in Mosul, it was dedicated to detaining former officers of the Iraqi army in the Saddam Hussein era. Former detainees interviewed by the IPM say that most of the prisoners were executed by the death squad headed by Abu Barzan. This squad was known for executing prisoners after taking them at night. Regarding the conditions of detention, witnesses say that ISIS painted the walls green and the ceiling black, covered all the windows with metal sheets that blocked sunlight and ventilation, and provided no healthcare. Detainees became ill as a result. The main names associated with this prison are judge Abu Hussein, who was known as the ‘blood judge’, Abu Barzan who led the ‘death squad’, and a group of jailers in charge of torture, primarily Abu Omar. After the expulsion of ISIS from Mosul in 2017, the owner restored