Prison riot in Abu Ghraib

Gregg Carlstrom | September 11, 2009 2:23 PM | 0 | recommend (0) |   |      

Too early to tell if this has any significance, but several inmates started a prison riot at Abu Ghraib yesterday. They set a fire in their cell, then tried to overpower the guards who came to put out the fire. Eventually the guards started shooting and "an unspecified number of inmates" were killed.

Prison riots are not uncommon in Iraq, or in any country with prisons, for that matter. The Iraqi inmates were allegedly protesting poor conditions in Abu Ghraib.

If the rioting inmates were Sunnis, then the riot might fit into the broader perception of the Shi'ite-dominated government riding roughshod over the Sunni minority. But it sounds like the inmates were Shi'ites affiliated with Moqtada al-Sadr.

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Categories: Iraq, Regional News

Tags: Abu Ghraib, Moqtada al-Sadr, prisoners

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