Islam's rules for POWs

2003-03-24 18:26

London - Prisoners of war in Iraqi hands will be treated in accordance with "the teachings of Islam," Iraq's Foreign Minister Naji Sabri told the BBC on Monday.

Sabri, in Egypt to rally Arab governments against what he called US and British "colonialism, neo-colonialism and war," said Islamic principles took precedence over the Geneva Convention.

"First of all, we are committed to the teachings of Islam. We are faithful Muslims. We take care of our prisoners of war in accordance with our teachings of Islam," he told BBC radio's The World At One program.

"We are committed first of all to the teachings of Islam, and second we are committed to the conventions of Geneva in dealing with the prisoners of war," he said.

"We are the people who created law when the grandfathers of Mr Blair and Mr Bush (British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W Bush) were living like animals in the caves," he said.

Sabri left Baghdad under heavy bombardment to travel via Syria to the Egyptian capital Cairo where the 22-nation Arab League was meeting to try and reach consensus over the US-led invasion to oust Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

He spoke to the BBC amid US and British outrage that five captured US soldiers had been shown on Iraqi television in a weekend broadcast that also included footage of four US corpses.

Sabri would not comment on military tactics, except to claim that the latest situation was "excellent."

- AFX