Plea to help solve Iraqi 'torture' riddle

Independent news site the New Standard is calling for readers to help with its investigation into the story of an Iraqi who was allegedly tortured while in US military custody.

Former assistant hospital manager and father of nine Sadiq Zoman was in good health when he was detained at his home in Kirkuk in July 2003, but was found by his family in a Tikrit hospital six weeks later in a 'persistent vegetative state'.

The New Standard's report claims that Mr Zoman was beaten, whipped and tortured with electric shocks while in detention. His hand was also broken and wounds on his head indicate that he was bludgeoned. He was finally tracked down by his family at Tikrit's Salahadeen hospital in September after a poster appeal by the Red Crescent.

The New Standard is calling for readers to contact the US 4th Infantry division to demand more information on Mr Zoman’s treatment.

"As publishers, we sometimes expect stories to lead to public action – why not use public action to help uncover a story?" said Brian Dominick, the New Standard's Middle East editor .

"We want to see the public a step ahead of the Pentagon. That should be our job as journalists - to enable our audience to create the news as active citizens, instead of just consuming the news," he added.

The story was originally reported by the New Standard’s Iraq correspondent Dahr Jamail in January, but since extensive news coverage of torture at Abu-Ghraib prison Mr Jamail has returned to the story.

Despite assurances that all allegations of mistreatment are investigated, the US army has failed to provide significant information on Mr Zoman’s detention, says the New Standard - even after the story was covered by the New York Times on 1 June.

The New Standard has now been banned from contact with the military in Iraq, claims Mr Dominick.

"The sad part of it is we have higher standards than many news organisations,” he said.

"There are massive chunks of this story we could not tell because we didn't think the evidence was strong enough - but then I read some of the stuff that places like the Washington Post and USA Today are running,"

The army doesn't like the fact that the New Standard reports the Iraqi side of the story, said Mr Dominick.

"It wants us to get its side of the story, yet we have never once had a military official answer questions specific to a story we're actually working on,” he told dotJournalism.

Contact details for the US 4th Infantry division can be found in the article on the New Standard website.

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New standard for independent news

See also:
The New Standard’s original story: http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=275
More New Standard coverage on Sadiq Zoman:
http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=579
Dahr Jamail’s Iraq Dispatches weblog: http://blog.newstandardnews.net/iraqdispatches/archives/000314.html

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