From Sadr city with "Love"...

Layla Anwar, An Arab Woman Blues - Reflections in a sealed bottle...

...Some of you who follow my blog on a regular basis, know of Kamel's story.I mentioned in my post "Fresh from the Iraqi oven", that Kamel is held in an American prison supervised and guarded by sectarian shia militias, on charges of "insurgency". I also mentioned that they demanded extortion money in exchange for his release and their signing a piece of paper saying he is not an insurgent- which is the truth. We finally managed to collect the requested sum of 2 Million Dinars. The money was paid and we got double crossed. They took the money and did not release Kamel. Only God knows what is happening to him right now. Money is not the only thing they extort from us. Sex read rape is another.I read a story today on IRIN and am reprinting in its entirety. Such kind of story is not uncommon at all. You hear them daily...in free Baghdad. So here it is. Mother of three Um Muhammad al-Daraj, 35, recently went through a traumatic ordeal to try to save her husband’s life. She told IRIN her husband was kidnapped by militants who had accused him of supporting the insurgents. (...) "After half an hour’s drive we reached [predominantly Shia] Sadr City and my legs were trembling because I know how dangerous the area is and the guys with me didn’t speak a word. "They asked me to enter a disgusting-looking house and told me to wait. A rude man came into the room and bluntly told me that I had two choices: have sex with him and get my husband released or return to my home and never see Ahmed again....

continua / continued