Two sisters: Giuliana and Mithal

The text you are about to read is a combination of words that were all written by Giuliana Sgrena, the italian journalist kidnapped in Irak (for more news about Giuliana you can see: http://www.rsf.fr/sgrena-en.php3).

Some of them were part of her appeal contained in the video released by her captors and the others are from an article she wrote on July 1, 2004 about Mithal, an Iraqi woman detained in Abu Grahib. It’s the story of two prisoners, two victims, perhaps not by the same hand, but certainly of the same injustice.

Giulio Stocchi



it is a long story

the details are painful

days of hell

Since the end of January I was here to bear witness

To the situation of a people

Who is dying everyday

at the end they took me

to a cell, three feet by five

gave me a bottle of water

and they left me there for six nights

Children old people women,

They are raped

And people are dying everywhere

On the streets

we ran after her for half a day

then a new appointment at her home

She doesn’t have anything to eat

No longer has electricity

Doesn’t have water

sometimes they forced about one hundred

prisoners to lay on the ground

then they would walk on them

I beg you

End the occupation

often they would force us to drink

water from the toilet



I ask the Italian government

I ask the Italian people

To put pressure on the government

Mithal massages her hands

and remembers they had turned black

because they were tied too tight

she couldn’t move them anymore

Pier, help me, I beg you

Please have them publish the picture of children

Hit by the cluster bombs



The black shadow of her kajal

Makes the grey-green color

of her large eyes stand out

I ask my family

To help me

a woman soldier

had untied them to allow her

to go to bath-room

And all of you

Who have fought, side by side with me

so I gave her my earrings

Against the war

I have done nothing wrong

Why should I be afraid?

Against the occupation

and then from the cells next to mine you could hear the screams

of men being tortured, you could hear their crying and howling

recorded and then re-played over and over

all night long at high volume

Help me,

I beg you

together with the sound of footsteps

on the gravel drawing near

but there was only sand there

This people

must not suffer anymore

like this

I recognized some of the detainees,

like Abdul Mudud

whose jaws they broke

and whose eye they took out

Withdraw the troops from Iraq

No one must come to Iraq any more

our destination was Abu Ghraib.

An Iraqi woman from outside

would give me a banana, once in a while

Because all foreigners

All Italians

Are considered enemies

in a big room

there was a doctor

who wanted me to undress

he threatened to cut my clothes

off of me

Please

Do something for me

at the end I asked him if I could

at least keep my underwear on

and he said yes

Pier

Help me

You were always at my side

In all my battles

the United States has occupied our country

we have the right to defend ourselves

I beg you, help me

they took me

to an ice cold room,

my teeth were chattering

all nice on display

were the instruments of torture

Show all the photos

I took of Iraqis

Of children hit by the cluster bombs

Of the women

one of the women prisoners

was forced to walk on all fours

her knees and her elbows

completely worn out

Help me, I beg you

another woman, they forced her

to separate urine from shit, with her hands

Help me to ask

That the troops be pulled out

then a black woman soldier arrived

and she was constantly shouting to me

Help me

but seeing that I wasn’t scared at the end

she apologized and “You’re brave”, she said.

I ask my husband

I ask Pier

Help me, you please help me

a sixty year old woman

who said she was a virgin

was always threatened with rape

Only you

can he help me all the way

another woman’s body was all ruined

because they would throw her against a wall

to ask that the troops

Be pulled out

another woman was locked in a small

cage for six days and she couldn’t

even move

I count on you

My hope lies only

In you

sometimes the would turn up the heat to the maximum

and in order to sleep I had to thrown on myself

You must help me to ask

That the troops be pulled out

that tiny bit of water they would give me

sometimes they wouldn’t give me food or drink

All the Italian people

Must help me

we heard the children screaming

they too were being tortured

All those who have stood with me

In these struggles

They primarily used dogs to attack them

Must help me

one day they made me lean against a wall

with my hands raised

I couldn’t resist in that position

My life

Depends on you

At the end I ask them to let me write something

to my children, because I would kill myself

Put pressure on the government

Help me

I was released after

eighty days

they even gave me

my earrings back

This people

does not want the occupation

the United States have occupied

our country

we have the right to defend ourselves

Our people don’t want the troops

We have a right to defend ourselves

Doesn’t want foreigners

I have done nothing wrong

Why should I be afraid?

Help me

I have done nothing wrong

I have always fought side by side with you