Jasim Mohammed Khalaf, a reporter-in-training for The Institute for War and Peace Reporting spent 12 days in US detention in Iraq. Here is his accounting.

Then we were separated. I was confined in a solitary cell no bigger than two-by-one metres. And so were the others.

My cell had a light bulb but no natural light. It contained an iron bed with a mattress, two blankets, a copy of the Holy Quran and a prayer mat.

I was confined in this solitary cell for four days. I suffered an enormous amount of stress due to the humiliation and isolation: we weren’t allowed to talk with the other detainees, even when we went to the toilet. That was the only time we were allowed to leave our cells.

The place was inhospitable, and the silence drove us mad. The Americans always yelled at us and called us names. Their threats included taking our blankets or forbidding us from using the toilets. For example, one of the guards was very tough with all of the detainees: he did not allow us to speak and forced us to face the wall.