Kathy Kelly
Voices in The Wilderness

Last evening, in Amman, we met with Fadi Elayyan and Jihad Tahboub, two Palestinian young men who were imprisoned for two months, without charge, by US Occupying forces who seized them, in Baghdad, on April 10, 2003

They are trying to help four of their companions who are still held by the US military, presumably in a prison compound at Umm Qasr, in southern Iraq.

“On April 10, the US Marines kidnapped us,” Jihad began in a matter of fact tone. “We were students, and we stayed in Baghdad during the war because we did not want to give up our studies or leave our friends. The Marines wanted to occupy our building because it is high and gives a good view of the area. ”

Some of the students had Palestinian passports. When they asked what they were guilty of, the soldiers said, “You are guilty of being Palestinian.” The soldiers told them, “You are not studying education in Baghdad. You are studying terrorism.”

“We said that we had citizen IDs and we are students,” said Fadi, but the soldiers insisted, with guns pointed at their heads, “You are in Iraq and you are terrorists.”

Fadi, age 24, had been living in Baghdad for six years. At the Mustansariya University, he was three months short of achieving a degree in environmental engineering. Jihad, age 23, studied hotel management.

Fadi and Jihad were released from a prison in Umm Qasr, in southern Iraq, two months later, on June 10, after a US military Tribunal issued each of them signed but undated documents stating that there was no evidence to support a claim that he committed a belligerent act against the Coalition forces. Before being released, they had to sign a document stating that the US military bore no responsibility for what had happened to them while they were in custody.