Iraqis told Human Rights Watch harrowing and detailed testimony about human rights abuses they experienced in Iraq. There is no typical testimony, but some are indicative of conditions many face. A 28-year-old Shi`a man who is undocumented in Greece and has not sought asylum there said that he had been kidnapped by the Mahdi Army and subsequently fled to escape forced recruitment from his former kidnappers: I am Shi`a from the Hayy al-Bunuuk neighborhood of Baghdad. I left because of the Mahdi Army. They wanted me to spy for them, to tell them who was Sunni, who was who. I refused. They then threatened to kill me. They kidnapped me on October 16, 2006, and my family paid $2,000 to get me released. My family couldn’t afford more, so they accepted this amount. I was held for 12 or 13 days. The Mahdi Army came back to me after they kidnapped and released me to tell me they wanted me to be an informant for them. It was the same guys who kidnapped me who asked me to join them. I left because the time had come for me to escape. That was January 2007.57 Others, such as this 33-year-old man of mixed Sunni-Shi`a parentage, told Human Rights Watch how they escaped from Sunni militias: I have a Sunni father and a Shi`a mother. Because we are half Sunni and half Sh`a, everyone sees us as spies. We pray in the Shi`a way. When Sunnis see me pray, they look at me like I’m an animal, like I am the enemy. Two of my brothers worked as translators for the Americans. A terrorist killed one of my brothers, Ali. [He shows a photo of the dead brother and his death certificate.] They told Ali to come with them, got him alone, and then shot him four times in the chest. The same people who killed my brother are the ones who hate me for praying the Shi`a way. Terrorists caught me on my way to my job on April 11, 2004. They kidnapped and tortured me for four days. They beat my head and back. I still can’t sit without pain. I have scars on my eyebrows. After four days they contacted my family. They took me by car on the highway, hit my 57 Human Rights Watch interview (name withheld, B-14), Athens, May 26, 2008. Stuck in a Revolving Door 30