BAGHDAD — The 26-year-old Sunni Arab man sat in the restaurant of a fashionable Baghdad hotel, his business suit covering marks where he said a power drill had penetrated his thigh and acid dissolved his calf.
The former Iraqi SWAT commander had traveled to Baghdad for meetings with Prime Minister Nouri Maliki and other high-ranking officials in which he plans to provide an account of torture he says he endured on the orders of Maj. Gen. Ghanim Quraishi, the Shiite Muslim police chief of Diyala province.
In an interview, Hisham Mahdi Salih said he was abused as part of the police chief's sectarian campaign against Sunni officers. And though American military officers have questioned portions of his story, the captain's account has become a rallying point for Sunni protests that erupted in the last week in one of Iraq's most turbulent regions.
The challenge, involving more than 10,000 protesters, threatens to unravel the U.S.-funded citizens security group in Diyala, a largely Sunni force. In recent days large numbers of the group's members have refused to patrol or operate checkpoints unless Quraishi is ousted.
American military officials have said that without the nearly 3,000 volunteer fighters in Diyala -- many of them former insurgents who joined the American side during the last eight months -- security will not improve in the region, a crossroads between Baghdad, Iran and insurgent strongholds to the north.
Quraishi, who has been accused by U.S. commanders of refusing to integrate Sunnis into his force, declined to comment. An aide said an order had been issued to all members of the department not to speak to reporters.
Army Brig. Gen. David Phillips, who oversees the training of Iraqi police, said a large-scale investigation had been launched on all the allegations against Quraishi and preliminary findings would be released next week.
"The allegations are serious, but on the other hand [Quraishi] was the only person who stepped up to the job," Phillips said.
In the interview, Salih tearfully but forcefully recounted his allegations of Quraishi's abuse. "This is my opportunity to have my voice heard," he said.
Despite the restaurant's formal setting, he rose at one point without hesitation to drop his pants to display the scars he said were caused by acid and a power drill.
