Iraq Shuts Down Abu Ghraib Prison
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Wathiq Khuzaie/Getty Images(BAGHDAD) — The Iraqi prison formerly known as Abu Ghraib has been shut down, perhaps permanently.
Iraq’s justice ministry announced on Tuesday the “complete closure of Baghdad Central Prison…and the removal of the inmates in cooperation with the ministries of defense and interior.”
The government suggested that the prison’s shuttering was due to the rise of violence in Iraq, especially because the facility is located “in a hot area.”
About 2,400 detainees alleged to have been involved in terrorist-related activities have been moved to other jails in central and northern Iraq.
Abu Ghraib prison first became notorious during the regime of the late dictator Saddam Hussein, whose minions committed unspeakable acts of torture against his political foes and ordinary criminals.
In 2004, following the U.S. occupation of Iraq, photographs surfaced of American prison guards abusing detainees at the prison. It’s believed these images helped fuel the insurgency that stretched the U.S. war effort in Iraq until the end of 2011.
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