Saddam Hazem Matar

Saddam Hazem Matar, a Mosul resident, is married with one child. He narrates how he was detained by ISIS when they first seized control of the city.

Before ISIS controlled the city, Saddam had left his job at the Iraqi Security Forces to open a carpentry shop. However, he was forced to close his shop due to poor health. As a result, he was unemployed and became dependent on money from his brother, who was also a member of the Iraqi Security Forces. That made ISIS suspicious of his source of income when they arrived in the city. Saddam thinks it most likely that someone he knew had reported him, but it seems that he does not want to reveal this person’s name.

ISIS arrested Saddam during Ramadan in 2014, the year the organization occupied Mosul. He recounts how they raided his house in the afternoon while he was with his family. He was handcuffed, blindfolded, and dragged wearing just his underwear to an old military car. They first took him to the former Turkish Consulate Prison, where he was crammed into a cage once used for Iraqi police dogs. In less than two days, he was transferred to the Dar al-Diyafa Prison, then again to the Ahdath Prison. He had not been aware of the existence of the Ahdath Prison before then. 

Saddam relates how, when he entered the prison, he heard the cries of men and women being tortured. He was summoned for interrogation at dawn the next day, and was blindfolded and handcuffed. In the investigation room, the jailers tied his hands behind his back, and suspended him by his wrists from the ceiling until his shoulder dislocated. But they could not force him to admit what he had not done. And they did not have any evidence to back up their claims.

During the interrogation, Saddam was forced to kneel, handcuffed and blindfolded, while someone pointed a gun at his head. He heard cries from other rooms and the sounds of gunshots. He thought that if people were being executed during interrogation, then his time was near too, and that he could do nothing but profess his faith by reciting the shahada.

Saddam speaks of the methods of torture he suffered, such as being flogged on his back with electric cables, being whipped on his feet, being suspended from the ceiling, and being tied to a cross and then flogged. He adds that others suffered even more brutal torments, like having holes drilled into their limbs or other parts of the body. Traces of torture are still visible all over Saddam’s body: a dislocated shoulder, a broken leg, and scars on his back. The psychological abuse was also extreme. The guards threatened Saddam by saying they would bring his wife and children to the prison to torture, humiliate, and rape them.

Saddam says the food provided was varied. The meals were regular and included eggs and chicken. He thinks the food was brought in from a nearby café. Water and juice were also available. Health care, on the other hand, was nearly non-existent, except some basic medications given to those with chronic illnesses.

The prisoners cooperated with each other, yet they kept their communication to a minimum, and sometimes used signs rather than words, fearing that informants were planted among them.

Saddam describes the solitary cell as filthy and dark. Those sent there, he says, received very poor treatment. 

He thinks there were six or seven toilets and bathrooms in the prison, an insufficient amount for the large number of prisoners. However, water and washing products were always available. The inmates organized their showering schedule themselves.

Saddam recounts several specific incidents that drew his attention. For example, he witnessed a woman going into labor in the prison. The jailers appeared to be confused by this. The prisoners never learned what happened to her next.

Saddam doesn’t know if there were female jailers in the women’s section. However, he observes that most of the female prisoners were related to men sought by ISIS, and had been taken as hostages to force the men to hand themselves in. Saddam also witnessed the death of a former major general, an elderly man, who passed away in his sleep due to the tortures he had endured.

Saddam continued to protest his innocence when he appeared before the judge for the last time. The judge ruled that he should be flogged 40 lashes and then released. The other prisoners provided him with clothing for his release, as he had been arrested wearing only his underwear.

Saddam is still distressed by the harrowing events that unfolded in Mosul under ISIS rule. He says ISIS attempted to deceive people with fake slogans, and then converted Mosul into a big prison. The fighting to expel ISIS from the city was an equally terrifying period that claimed many lives.

Finally, Saddam says that, though he is relieved that Mosul is recovering and returning to prosperity, he personally continues to suffer from the physical and psychological scars left on him by his time in the Ahdath Prison.