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US denies Koran abuse claims
09/06/2006 11:24 - (SA)
Washington - The US military on Thursday flatly denied accusations by detainees at the "war on terror" prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, that US soldiers have desecrated copies of the Koran.
Officials at the US naval base in Guantanamo announced earlier that prisoners and guards clashed on May 18 in an incident they described as "staged".
"Joint Task Force Guantanamo stands by our original report: our guard force responded to a staged suicide attempt and was ambushed by detainees in a well-planned operation," the military said in a statement.
Ambush plan
Several of the inmates involved in the incident "have informed us that part of the ambush plan was to claim abuse of the Holy Koran to rally detainees to fight and as a cover story after the incident ended," the statement said.
"Seeing these false allegations come to light confirms what detainees told us: some detainees would falsely claim abuse of the Koran to elicit worldwide media attention with hopes of inciting violence in the Islamic world.
"Calling the ambush a spontaneous act by detainees is simply not true. Calling this a spontaneous act by detainees in defence of the Koran is also not true."
According to the statement, "the Koran is shown tremendous respect at Guantanamo. Our guard force does not touch or handle the detainees' Korans, period".
Prison's 'most violent outbreak'
Guards fired rubber bullets and six prisoners suffered minor injuries in what Rear Admiral Harry Harris, commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo, on May 19 called "the most violent outbreak" at the prison since it was opened in January 2002.
Detainees smothered the floor with human excrement and soapy water to make it slippery before guards rushed in believing they were saving a man from hanging himself, said Harris.
Minimum force
The guards were then attacked with "broken light fixtures, fan blades" and other improvised weapons, Harris told a telephone press conference from Guantanamo.
Harris insisted however that "minimum force was used to quell the disturbance".
Only 10 inmates have been formally charged as terror suspects among the some 460 held there as "enemy combatants" since the camp opened after the attacks of September 11, 2001.
- AFP
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