Iraqi POWs 'tortured'

2003-05-16 21:20

London - At least 20 Iraqi prisoners of war, including civilians, have accused British and US troops of torturing them, the international human rights group Amnesty International said on Friday.

"As of Wednesday we had interviewed 20 people," Amnesty researcher Said Boumedouha told a London press conference, referring to prisoners of war who alleged they had been tortured by the US military in the central town of Nasiriyah and British forces around the southern city of Basra.

When asked, the researcher insisted that torture was the correct word to use for the handling of the prisoners, many of whom may have been suspected of being members of Iraqi militia.

After returning from Amnesty's first fact-finding mission in Iraq since 1993, Boumedouha said the alleged mistreatment included "beatings with fists, with feet, also with weapons".

"In one case we are talking about electric shocks being used against a man and in others people are being beaten for the whole night and are still being kicked and their teeth broken, I think you would call that torture," he said.

The man claiming to have received electric shocks was believed to have been a Saudi who had entered the country from Syria during the war and was suspected of being a volunteer for Saddam Hussein.

Boumedouha acknowledged that Amnesty International had not presented any of the claims to British or US forces for any response.

17 000 disappeared

"We still have people on the ground in Iraq and we will continue to gain testimonies," he said.

"Once that is complete we hope to provide a full dossier to present to the British and American authorities as well as publishing ourselves," he said.

Up to half of the 20 people interviewed, who were free at the time, were civilians and the rest military, Amnesty said.

Judit Arenas, an Amnesty media officer who accompanied Boumedouha on the four-week Iraq mission, highlighted the issue of mass graves and the fact that some 17 000 Iraqis are thought to have disappeared since 1979.

"The disappearances are going to be the biggest long-term inheritance that Iraq is going to have to face as it moves forward," Arenas said.

Earlier in May, Amnesty uncovered 40 bodies at a mass grave at Abul Khasib in southern Iraq, believed to date back to 1991, and thought to be the result of Saddam's reprisals following an attempted uprising after the first Gulf War.

"It is vital that they (the graves) are protected and that evidence is not disturbed," Amnesty said in a statement obtained by AFP.

Security

"Ideally the area thought to contain the grave site should be roped off and placed under 24-hour guard to ensure that there is no well- or mal-intentioned digging," the statement said.

"These discoveries and reports underline the need for the urgent deployment of UN Human Rights Monitors," the statement said.

Boumedouha said that everywhere he had gone in central and southern Iraq the Iraqis had given him the same message: "The people do not need food or water, what they need is security."

"Everyone is wondering why they (coalition forces) haven't done enough. They haven't done anything in fact," he said.

"The looting in Basra for example is still unbelievable and now there are other problems, including car-jacking and revenge killings against former police and Ba'ath party members," he said.

Other concerns raised by the Iraqis to Amnesty International included alleged violence by fundamentalist Muslims and the rape and ransoming of girls.

- AFX