A letter from Abu Ghraib

The following is a letter from the Abu Ghraib prison. Fatima's letter, a hand written document, was
recently smuggled out of Abu Ghraib. Fatima is the sister of one of the celebrated Resistance fighters in
the area. US occupation forces raided his house some time back but failed to find him, so they took his
sister prisoner in an attempt to force him to give himself up.

Here is Fatima's letter as originally published in Arabic by Mafkarat al-Islam and translated to English by
Muhammad Abu Nasr of Free Arab Voice.

Fatima's Letter:
In the name of God, the Merciful, the Mercy-giving. "Say He is God the One; God the Source [of
everything]; Not has He fathered, nor has He been fathered; nor is anything comparable to Him." [Qur'an,
Surat 112 "al-Ikhlas"]

I chose this noble Surah from the Book of God because it has the greatest impact on me and on all of you
and it strikes a particular kind of awe in the hearts of Believers.

My brother Mujahideen in the path of God! What can I say to you? I say to you: our wombs have been
filled with the children of fornication by those sons of apes and pigs who raped us. Or I could tell you that
they have defaced our bodies, spit in our faces, and tore up the little copies of the Qur'an that hung around
our necks? God is greatest! Can you not comprehend our situation? Is it true that you do not know what is
happening to us? We are your sisters. God will be calling you to account [about this] tomorrow.

By God, we have not passed one night since we have been in prison without one of the apes and pigs
jumping down upon us to rip our bodies apart with his overweening lust. And we are the ones who had
guarded our virginity out of fear of God. Fear God! Kill us along with them! Destroy us along with them!
Don't leave us here to let them get pleasure from raping us! It will be an act to ennoble the Throne of
Almighty God. Fear God regarding us! Leave their tanks and aircraft outside. Come at us here in the
prison of Abu Ghurayb.

I am your sister in God (Fatimah). They raped me on one day more than nine times. Can you
comprehend? Imagine one of your sisters being raped. Why can't you all imagine it, as I am your sister?
With me are 13 girls, all unmarried. All have been raped before the eyes and ears of everyone.

They won't let us pray. They took our clothes and won't let us get dressed. As I write this letter one of the
girls has committed suicide. She was savagely raped. A soldier hit her on her chest and thigh after raping
her. He subjected her to unbelievable torture. She beat her head against the wall of the cell until she died,
for she couldn't take any more, even though suicide is forbidden in Islam. But I excuse that girl. I have
hope that God will forgive her, because He is the Most Merciful of all. Brothers, I tell you again, fear
God! Kill us with them so that we might be at peace. Help! Help! Help! [Wa Mu'atasima!]
Fatima is dead.

Fatimah’s eldest brother, who is one of the mujahideen whom the occupation forces are searching for,
spoke in the mosque Thursday at the nighttime prayer said “Praise be to God” with tears in his eyes.
Everyone in the mosque witnessed him saying ‘Oh God take her soul! Oh God this is a shame so please
cleanse it!' ... Then after the prayer, one of the worshippers came up to him and remonstrated him for
saying, ‘Oh God this is a shame so please cleanse it!’ The man told him, ‘Say rather, this is an honor, so
raise it up and honor it. It is we about whom the word shame should be used, not Fatimah. She is the most
honorable, purest, and cleanest of girls. I ask you for her hand in marriage after she gets out of prison,
God willing.’

The neighbor went on, saying, “Fatimah’s brother and his fighting detachment carried out more than 50
rocket attacks on the prison before and after her letter came out. Every day they would hunt down a car or
two belonging to the occupation forces. His name became famous among them in this area.."

Fatima's elder brother organized a hundred men and launched an attack on the prison; Fatima was struck
fatally in the head during the bombardment and died on December 21, 2004.

The case of Fatima is not unique; many Iraqi women have sent messages begging loved ones to ‘please
kill us all.’ U.S. guards are perpetrating systemic abuse and torture against Iraqi women who are held in
indefinite detention without charge; this is happening not just at Abu Ghraib but all across Iraq.

In my opinion, the rape of Fatima was one universal rape of all women of this world that cuts across all
races, colors, ideologies and creeds.

Join me in this one simple demand to the U.S. Senate and Congress:

Release the hundreds of photographs and videotapes from Abu Ghraib that have been shown to members
of the Senate but remain classified. Let the American people see and hear men being tortured, children
being sodomized and women being raped by their US guards and interrogators, and then decide for
themselves whether these methods are consistent with a democracy.

American women activists, where are you?! Please bring Fatimah's story to the attention of your
Congress(wo?)men and Senators and speak up for women's dignity in Iraq.