their register” and he was then given a room. Haroon observed that there were other people, but he did not speak to them. The night he was abducted, Haroon recalled loud noises before the roof collapsed. Frightened, he attempted to run out, but by this time soldiers had stormed in and began to beat him. Before he passed out, Haroon realized they were British officers due to the Union Jack badges on their uniforms. Alternately, Haroon described an ambush in which the British soldiers broke down the doors and windows of his accommodation and fired at everyone. “I immediately got up from the floor and tried to open the door, but the bullets were coming through the door as well so I moved to the side.” Recalling the mayhem, he continued, “As the door broke and they entered the room, the first soldier stood in front of me. I noticed there were British badges on their shoulders.” Before losing consciousness, Haroon remembered being struck with a gun’s butt. When Haroon regained consciousness, he found himself tied to a hospital bed, his left cheekbone broken, some of his teeth missing, unable to breathe from his left nostril, and several of his fingers dislocated. Groggily, he realized he was in some sort of a medical facility, British soldiers sitting with their guns in hand near every captive’s bed. His hands and feet were tied, tubes stuffed inside his nose and mouth, and he was attached to a catheter. Of his surroundings, Haroon also recalled miniscule British flags on tables throughout the hospital. Later, he was shifted from the hospital to a jail facility full of numerous tiny cells, each approximately 6 x 8 x 1.5 feet in size. “They kept us as if they were closing something in a box.” Under British custody, Haroon reported being subjected to a cycle of interrogation, followed by torture when he did not provide the answers they wanted. “I told them I could not understand what they wanted from me. ‘What are you asking me?’ I would plead. [In response] they used to pinch my cheeks. This caused me great pain because my head was wounded … I told them I do not have any connection with any organization, I had come to Iran for trade and was here in Iraq for pilgrimage … After interrogation, they used to send me back to the cell. The cell was dark and a camera was clearly visible. There were tiny lights that made it apparent [through the darkness]. Most of the time they used to say ‘he is not telling the truth’ … then one of the interrogation team’s men used to come after an hour and beat me with chains. He used to hit me on my elbows.” About a week later, the British handed Haroon over to American authorities. “Now you are in the mouth of the lion,” they said, triumphantly. Haroon explained why he was narrating this anecdote to the interviewer: I heard from my forefathers that the British ruled the Subcontinent for over 150 years and the sun never set in their reign. They had a huge government that used to provide justice — that used to investigate in-depth and never took orders from others. They were men of their own. No incident of injustice was witnessed in their regime; instead, justice was in vogue. I was confused and was thinking that perhaps my forefathers were liars because they told me their (the British) era was the golden era — they tossed me like a ball to the Americans. 33