Cell 49
Mixed Media on Chipboard and Wood Frame
80cm X 109cm (31.5″ X 43″)

The buzzing sound of the electric wires is still stuck in my head

In 2003 of the Iraq invasion American soldiers dumped severed body parts on a football pitch in the al-Amiriya district of Baghdad. Ali Shallal al-Qaisi, the owner of the pitch, contacted foreign media where he expressed his horror at the incident and his name and photo were published. In retaliation, American soldiers raided his home arrested him and took him to a detention facility in his neighborhood before transferring him to Abu Ghraib.

At Abu Ghraib Qaisi was stripped, hooded with his shoes on his head and beaten with rifle butts when unable to climb a spiral staircase with feet restrained. Tied up in a stress position he was penetrated with broomsticks and rifle barrels and tortured with electrical wires. In cell 49 Qaisi was refused food for three days, blasted with loud recordings and doused in cold water in December. Still, he could hear the sounds of dogs barking and men being tortured as well as women detained opposite the men screaming for help. Naked in his cell, all he could do was recite Allahu Akbar.

Qaisi was released after photos of Abu Ghraib torture and abuse were leaked to human rights organizations and underwent six surgeries for his injuries at the hands of Americans.

“I wasn’t a military commander or a government official. I was just a resident of Baghdad, where I grew up, and just like any other Iraqi I was against the US invasion and I spoke out against it.”