PRESS RELEASE 10 November 2004
Voices in the Wilderness UK [A]
Contact 0845 458 2564 or 07791 486484

Challenging Abu Ghraib:
independent monitor of detentions in Iraq to tour UK

Speaking across England, 13-21 November: 62-year-old American, Peggy Gish, who has spent 13 of the last 24 months in Iraq with the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) [B], documenting the cases of Iraqis detained by the occupying forces and supporting non-violent efforts by Iraqis for justice and peace, will be touring the UK from 13 – 21 November, talking about her work.

Over the last 9 years Peggy Gish has braved bombs and bullets in the West Bank and Iraq, “getting in the way” in the service of peace and human rights. She is the author of ‘Iraq: A Journey of Hope and Peace’ which chronicles her experiences during bomb attacks, being deported, fighting for justice for Iraqi prisoners and creating relationships with Iraqi citizens [C].

Despite the so-called “handover” of sovereignty on 28 June 2004, the US continues to detain roughly 5000 Iraqis and is creating a long-term detention facility at Camp Bucca, near the Kuwaiti border [D]. Meanwhile, according to Pulitzer-prize winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh – who broke the story of the Abu Ghraib torture photos in May – the ‘Special Access Programme’ which ‘encouraged [the] physical coercion and sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners’ was ‘reconstituted’ mid-June with ‘[t]he same rules of engagement’ [E]

The CPT initiated a long-term presence in Iraq in October 2002 and have been focussing on the issue of Iraqi detainees since August 2003. They are one of the few international groups to still have a presence in Iraq. They have initiated the ‘Adopt a Detainee’ campaign in which religious and peace groups in North America and elsewhere write letters on behalf of individual detainees in Iraq.

Peggy Gish said: “In Iraq this summer it was obvious to our team that not only had the violence increased, but that the U.S. had maintained its control over Iraqi society and Iraq’s government. What continues to happen in Falluja is tragic: excessive violence, collective punishment, and killing many innocent people, to try to flush out a few. This is one more example of the U.S. military being more concerned about regaining the areas of Iraq that they have lost control of, than in the well-being of the Iraqi people.”

Peggy Gish’s UK speaking tour includes events in Colchester, Southend, Haverhill, Bristol, Dorset, Slough, London, Bradford, Leeds, Manchester, Northampton and Reading [F]. She will be available for interview throughout her stay in the UK. Contact 0845 458 2564 or 07791 486484

NOTES
[A] Voices in the Wilderness UK has been campaigning on Iraq for the last six years.
[B] Christian Peacemaker Teams is an ecumenical violence-reduction program with roots in the historic peace churches. Teams of trained peace workers live in areas of lethal conflict around the world. CPT has been present in Iraq since October, 2002. For more info. See www.cpt.org
[C] See www.cpt.org/publications/cptbooks.htm
[D] Agence France Presse, 19 July.
[E] New Yorker, 24 May; Chain of Command, p.65
[F] A complete list of times, venues and contact details can be found here.