III. Methodology

Human Rights Watch attended investigative hearings and trial proceedings at the Central Criminal Court of Iraq in Baghdad on six separate occasions in May 2008. These proceedings occurred in two locales: the court's al-Karkh branch, in western Baghdad, which hears the cases of detainees held by the US-led Multinational Force-Iraq, as well as those of detainees referred for prosecution by Iraqi authorities; and the court's Rusafa branch, in eastern Baghdad, which deals only with cases of detainees held and referred by Iraqi authorities.

Investigative hearings are not normally open to the public. Those present included an investigative judge, prosecutor, and judicial investigator. In the cases of MNF detainees, a judge advocate general (JAG) or other US military personnel administering the referral of a case to the CCCI were also present, typically accompanied by an interpreter and MNF personnel appearing as witnesses in the investigative hearing or to escort the detainees.

Investigative judges at both branches of the court gave Human Rights Watch permission to examine documents presented in the course of the hearings, including confessions, summaries of witness statements, photographs, descriptions of physical evidence, and, in the case of MNF referrals, Arabic translations of MNF case files. Officials of the court also gave Human Rights Watch permission to speak to detainees held by Iraqi authorities and present for investigative hearings and trials.

Court-appointed counsel and privately retained lawyers spoke with Human Rights Watch before and after investigative hearings and trials. Judges at both branches of the court, including the chief investigative judges, granted Human Rights Watch multiple interviews in response to queries about particular cases and procedural questions that arose during hearings. MNF Detainee Operations, the US military detainee affairs body, met with Human Rights Watch and also provided partial written responses to queries about aspects of the process of referring MNF detainees to the court.

Human Rights Watch attended the investigative hearings of 71 defendants, 15 of whom were in MNF custody, as well as five trials in Iraqi-referred cases involving a total of 17 defendants. All of the defendants in the trials and investigative hearings were male; three were children. The investigative hearings were divided between the two venues; the trials Human Rights Watch attended were held at the Rusafa branch of the court. Human Rights Watch spoke with about three dozen detainees in Iraqi custody who were brought to one of the court's branches for their investigative hearings. Those conversations typically took place in common areas of the Karkh facility or holding cells at the Rusafa branch of the court.

Iraqi security forces escorting prisoners to hearings were present when Human Rights Watch spoke with detainees at al-Karkh, although detainees were in most cases seated at enough distance from their guards and one another to allow for private conversations. Detainees at the Rusafa branch of the court spoke with Human Rights Watch in a common holding cell or outside the rooms in which their investigative hearings were held, escorted by foreign security contractors. These security contractors did not know Arabic, thus allowing for confidential discussions.

The US embassy in Baghdad facilitated transport to the Rusafa branch of the CCCI on two occasions. US personnel effectively denied Human Rights Watch access to MNF detainees referred to the court in al-Karkh: on three occasions when Human Rights Watch attended proceedings at the Karkh branch of the court, US marshals controlling one entrance to the court complex informed Human Rights Watch that they would expel us from the building unless we agreed not to speak with MNF detainees; on two occasions Human Rights Watch was obligated to accept a US military escort to ensure we had no contact with any detainee. No consistent explanation was offered for these restrictions on contact with detainees.