|
US closing Abu Ghraib prison
09/03/2006 22:36 - (SA)
Baghdad - The US military will close
Abu Ghraib prison, probably within three months, and transfer
some 4 500 prisoners to other jails in Iraq, a military
spokesman said on Thursday.
The prison in western Baghdad was a torture centre under
Saddam Hussein before photographs of American soldiers abusing
Iraqis there in 2003 gave it a new notoriety and made it a
touchstone for Arab and Muslim rage over the US occupation.
"We will transfer operations from Abu Ghraib to the new Camp
Cropper once construction is completed there,"
Lieutenant-Colonel Keir-Kevin Curry told Reuters.
"No precise dates have been set, but the plan is to
accomplish this within the next two to three months," said
Curry, the spokesperson for US detention operations in Iraq.
Camp Cropper is a detention facility in the US military
headquarters base at Baghdad airport, not far from Abu Ghraib.
It currently houses only 127 "high-value" detainees, among
them Saddam himself.
US military officials say a purpose-built
prison at Camp Cropper will provide better conditions for Iraqis
detained on suspicion of insurgent activity.
At present, US forces are holding 14 589 people in four
jails in Iraq.
|
News
