Karzan's Reconciliation
Iraq
15 mins 25 seconds
00:00:01:10 K. V.O. Kirkuk is my hometown. As a teenager I had to escape Saddam Hussein’s terror and ever since lived in exile in Europe.
00:00:14:11 K. V.O. For the first time I am now back trying to come to terms with the violent past of my country.
00:00:22:01 K. V.O. According to latest human right’s research Saddam Hussein’s henchmen murdered more than 250000 people over the past 25 years. That is without counting the casualties of wars. In other words every year Saddam was in power an average of 10000 innocents got killed. I was lucky, I escaped but I am still struggling with my own nightmare.
00:00:54:01 Karzan I was about fourteen. I was coming out of cinema, I’ve seen Superman’s film. I was very happy, I loved films, I loved movies. On the way coming home I decided to come to Chikhana, this place, my local teahouse to have a drink and play a little bit of Domino, a game of Domino with a friend of mine.
00:01:21:01 When I sat down here and I called for a drink, a Pepsi, suddenly my hand was grabbed. I looked up, and there was a guy, his name was Ahmed. He was an Arab, he was a Mukhabarat, Saddam’s man. And I started to shake because I new this was really bad news.
00:01:53:23 These Mukhbarat guys used to come with a car, a white Peugeot 404, and when ever this car came to my diastrict in Rahimawa, they never went away without taking couple of people. And the people they took away we never so them again. So we new the ride on that car was the final ride.
00:02:20:15 K. in the car I heard so many stories about people tortured in the Iraqi prison by the Mukhabarat, by the secret police and I immediately was thinking I am really too young to die. First of all they changed my name and they called me bastard, son of the bitch dirty shit Kurd. And then they told me that I was working in the underground movement anti Saddam, making propaganda against Saddam Hussein. And I was the head of the cell. My heart sank because I then realized this was deep shit. I was scared, I must say I was very very scared. I am going back to the same place now.
00:03:38:16 This is where I was kept by the Iraqi secret police. She says she is a refugee and she is living here now, so somebody is using this place.
00:04:03:04 I am just asking him about the entrance for, there was a basement where they kept me, I would like to see if I can get back to the basement.
00:04:45:09 I just wonder how can they, they actually live in this place. This is a cursed place.
00:05:15:22 K. Inside Look at this. One thing I have never managed to get out of my mind, the image of these graffiti written by so many young Kurds brought in here tortured to death. Look at this one:
00:05:37:05 K. reads I prefer today to die in the prison, in this cell than become a servant of the occupiers. This says to remember me I was known as Pola on 13th of July 85 I was arrested, today I am waiting for my execution.This says I entered this cell with my family and I am only thirteen years old.
00:06:16:23 K. And it is in Arabic. Saddam didn’t spear anybody who opposed him; Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen, Christians. Of course the Kurds mainly because cthey are the ones who opposed him most.
00:06:36:21 K. reads God I have only you please god…
00:06:41:14 K. I did the same, I begged god to come out, I begged to survive. But I, I lost all my faith in god after what I have experienced here. There is no god, if there was one; it will never allow things like this to happen on our planet.
00:07:22:23 I remember when I was pushed down into the basement, about ten minute later there was this shout calling my name: look if you can see a hand? Don’t give up to these bastards, don’t give up to them. He said I’ve been here for two years, resist, resist… He was like my saviour in away because I just remembered his words; resist. I was brought into a basement, it is here. I was not given a chance to go down the stairs but I was pushed down all the way.
00:09:04:18 I can’t believe it I am here. Back in this spot, this place thirty years later. I spent one whole week in this room.
00:09:31:16 I would spend the night in the basement and then in the daytime they will bring me out to this room, and they pulled me up, upside down, with my head down and one with a cable, very heavy piece of a truncheon started to hit the bottom of my feet. And I screamed, I really screamed. I switched it off. They must have hit me at least fifty, sixty times and then throw me on the floor, drag me outside into the main hall, and they there would say run. With your feet swollen, your feet covered in blood, and you didn’t want to put it on the floor whatever. You just want it to keep it away from the floor, but they would force you to run on it, run, run, run. And if you fall, they would come and kick you, and punch you and hit you. They seemed to enjoy it, that is what was so sick about it.
10:10:59:13 What do you want from me? I was saying, I have not done anything. Every time I said I didn’t do any thing, I have not done anything, I don’t know what are you talking about, I was tortured even more. It was a deal; you confess, they were saying, you name two people, we are going to bring the two people in and you can go free. I was named by somebody under torture. They were saying; yes we have a witness, and they brought in one guy. A local. I knew him, he wasn’t a friend but I knew he was local, he was from Rahimawa. Sabir, I still remember his name. And in away I thought I am lucky because he knows me, he knows I have not done any of this. And I said to him; Sabir, you know me, don’t you? Come on tell them.
10:12:12:01 He said yes, you did it. He pointed at me and said; you belong to the underground movement, you make propaganda anti Saddam Hussein.
10:12:26:20 I could have killed him then, I could have cut him in pieces that guy. How could he just turn up and say yes you did it? They said to me; you see, you can do like he did. He named to people and we let him free. And you do the same, we let you go free. No, I said, I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t. You rather kill me but I wouldn’t.
10:13:04:13 On the fifth day I was getting very weak, I had my teeth wobbly. Then an officer walked in on his own and he just whispered in my ear Fazil, my brother, the name of my eldest brother. Fazil was very rich, he was a building contractor and he managed to buy me out. He bought my life and saved me from Saddam Hussein and his monsters.
10:14:03:23 Many innocents lost life in these rooms and I am talking as if this was the past, but right now in many countries around the world this is happening right now where people are being tortured. For god sake, in the name of this bloody humanity we all belong to, let’s finish with it, we have caused enough destructions, enough misery. I am leaving this place in the hope that this is the last time I will ever come back her.
Iraq
15 mins 25 seconds
00:00:01:10 K. V.O. Kirkuk is my hometown. As a teenager I had to escape Saddam Hussein’s terror and ever since lived in exile in Europe.
00:00:14:11 K. V.O. For the first time I am now back trying to come to terms with the violent past of my country.
00:00:22:01 K. V.O. According to latest human right’s research Saddam Hussein’s henchmen murdered more than 250000 people over the past 25 years. That is without counting the casualties of wars. In other words every year Saddam was in power an average of 10000 innocents got killed. I was lucky, I escaped but I am still struggling with my own nightmare.
00:00:54:01 Karzan I was about fourteen. I was coming out of cinema, I’ve seen Superman’s film. I was very happy, I loved films, I loved movies. On the way coming home I decided to come to Chikhana, this place, my local teahouse to have a drink and play a little bit of Domino, a game of Domino with a friend of mine.
00:01:21:01 When I sat down here and I called for a drink, a Pepsi, suddenly my hand was grabbed. I looked up, and there was a guy, his name was Ahmed. He was an Arab, he was a Mukhabarat, Saddam’s man. And I started to shake because I new this was really bad news.
00:01:53:23 These Mukhbarat guys used to come with a car, a white Peugeot 404, and when ever this car came to my diastrict in Rahimawa, they never went away without taking couple of people. And the people they took away we never so them again. So we new the ride on that car was the final ride.
00:02:20:15 K. in the car I heard so many stories about people tortured in the Iraqi prison by the Mukhabarat, by the secret police and I immediately was thinking I am really too young to die. First of all they changed my name and they called me bastard, son of the bitch dirty shit Kurd. And then they told me that I was working in the underground movement anti Saddam, making propaganda against Saddam Hussein. And I was the head of the cell. My heart sank because I then realized this was deep shit. I was scared, I must say I was very very scared. I am going back to the same place now.
00:03:38:16 This is where I was kept by the Iraqi secret police. She says she is a refugee and she is living here now, so somebody is using this place.
00:04:03:04 I am just asking him about the entrance for, there was a basement where they kept me, I would like to see if I can get back to the basement.
00:04:45:09 I just wonder how can they, they actually live in this place. This is a cursed place.
00:05:15:22 K. Inside Look at this. One thing I have never managed to get out of my mind, the image of these graffiti written by so many young Kurds brought in here tortured to death. Look at this one:
00:05:37:05 K. reads I prefer today to die in the prison, in this cell than become a servant of the occupiers. This says to remember me I was known as Pola on 13th of July 85 I was arrested, today I am waiting for my execution.This says I entered this cell with my family and I am only thirteen years old.
00:06:16:23 K. And it is in Arabic. Saddam didn’t spear anybody who opposed him; Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen, Christians. Of course the Kurds mainly because cthey are the ones who opposed him most.
00:06:36:21 K. reads God I have only you please god…
00:06:41:14 K. I did the same, I begged god to come out, I begged to survive. But I, I lost all my faith in god after what I have experienced here. There is no god, if there was one; it will never allow things like this to happen on our planet.
00:07:22:23 I remember when I was pushed down into the basement, about ten minute later there was this shout calling my name: look if you can see a hand? Don’t give up to these bastards, don’t give up to them. He said I’ve been here for two years, resist, resist… He was like my saviour in away because I just remembered his words; resist. I was brought into a basement, it is here. I was not given a chance to go down the stairs but I was pushed down all the way.
00:09:04:18 I can’t believe it I am here. Back in this spot, this place thirty years later. I spent one whole week in this room.
00:09:31:16 I would spend the night in the basement and then in the daytime they will bring me out to this room, and they pulled me up, upside down, with my head down and one with a cable, very heavy piece of a truncheon started to hit the bottom of my feet. And I screamed, I really screamed. I switched it off. They must have hit me at least fifty, sixty times and then throw me on the floor, drag me outside into the main hall, and they there would say run. With your feet swollen, your feet covered in blood, and you didn’t want to put it on the floor whatever. You just want it to keep it away from the floor, but they would force you to run on it, run, run, run. And if you fall, they would come and kick you, and punch you and hit you. They seemed to enjoy it, that is what was so sick about it.
10:10:59:13 What do you want from me? I was saying, I have not done anything. Every time I said I didn’t do any thing, I have not done anything, I don’t know what are you talking about, I was tortured even more. It was a deal; you confess, they were saying, you name two people, we are going to bring the two people in and you can go free. I was named by somebody under torture. They were saying; yes we have a witness, and they brought in one guy. A local. I knew him, he wasn’t a friend but I knew he was local, he was from Rahimawa. Sabir, I still remember his name. And in away I thought I am lucky because he knows me, he knows I have not done any of this. And I said to him; Sabir, you know me, don’t you? Come on tell them.
10:12:12:01 He said yes, you did it. He pointed at me and said; you belong to the underground movement, you make propaganda anti Saddam Hussein.
10:12:26:20 I could have killed him then, I could have cut him in pieces that guy. How could he just turn up and say yes you did it? They said to me; you see, you can do like he did. He named to people and we let him free. And you do the same, we let you go free. No, I said, I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t. You rather kill me but I wouldn’t.
10:13:04:13 On the fifth day I was getting very weak, I had my teeth wobbly. Then an officer walked in on his own and he just whispered in my ear Fazil, my brother, the name of my eldest brother. Fazil was very rich, he was a building contractor and he managed to buy me out. He bought my life and saved me from Saddam Hussein and his monsters.
10:14:03:23 Many innocents lost life in these rooms and I am talking as if this was the past, but right now in many countries around the world this is happening right now where people are being tortured. For god sake, in the name of this bloody humanity we all belong to, let’s finish with it, we have caused enough destructions, enough misery. I am leaving this place in the hope that this is the last time I will ever come back her.