Amnesty has 'torture' evidence

2004-05-03 10:32

London - Muslim and human rights groups on Sunday condemned the alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. and British troops, and Amnesty International said it had evidence of a pattern of torture by coalition forces.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said there would be a thorough investigation into images, published in a tabloid newspaper, allegedly showing a hooded Iraqi being abused by British soldiers. As some commentators raised doubts about the pictures' authenticity, the Daily Mirror said it stood by its report and promised more revelations.

The newspaper's front-page picture on Saturday showed a British soldier apparently urinating on a hooded prisoner. The newspaper said it had been given the pictures by serving soldiers from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment.

Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan said Sunday that the newspaper planned to publish more details of alleged abuse by "a small rogue element of soldiers who committed totally unacceptable acts against Iraqi civilians."

The British claims surfaced after the American network CBS broadcast images allegedly showing Iraqis stripped naked, hooded and being tormented by their U.S. captors. Six U.S. soldiers face courts-martial in connection with allegations of mistreatment of detainees at an Iraqi prison.

The U.S. military's top officer on Sunday said there was no widespread pattern of abuse, and the actions of "just a handful" of U.S. troops had unfairly tainted all American forces."

"We review all the interrogation methods. Torture is not one of the methods that we're allowed to use and that we use," said Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The New Yorker magazine, however, said Saturday it had obtained an internal U.S. Army report saying Iraqi detainees were subjected to "sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses" at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.

Nicole Choueiry, Middle East spokesman for human rights group Amnesty International, said the group had received "scores" of reports of ill-treatment of detainees by British and American troops.

"We've been documenting allegations of torture for a year now," she said. "We have said there are patterns of torture."

Amnesty says it has received reports of abuse including "prolonged sleep deprivation, beatings, prolonged restraint in painful positions, sometimes combined with exposure to loud music, prolonged hooding, and exposure to bright lights."

Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, the U.S. Army Reserve general who commanded the military police officers photographed abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraib jail, said she believed military commanders were trying to shift the blame onto the reservists, rather than the military intelligence officers in charge of the cell block.

"The suggestion that this was done with my knowledge and continued with my knowledge is so far from the truth," she was quoted as saying in Sunday's editions of The New York Times.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair condemned the alleged abuse by British soldiers, but said the vast majority of troops "are doing a fantastic job for the Iraqi people."

The images, beamed around the world on television and reprinted in newspapers, sparked outrage across the Muslim world.

"Our revulsion at the sadistic and shameful nature of the treatment given to the prisoners is shared by people across the globe," said Masood Khan, spokesman for the Pakistani Foreign Ministry.

Nasharuddin Isa, secretary general of Malaysia's largest opposition party, the fundamentalist Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, said the "despicable acts prove the double standards of America, a country that always preaches about human rights to the rest of the world."

"The U.S. and British troops must leave Iraq immediately," Nasharuddin told The Associated Press.

Muslim groups in Indonesia and Pakistan echoed calls for coalition troops to leave.

"The morals of coalition occupation forces are despicable," said Dien Syamsuddin, secretary general of the Indonesian Ulema's Council, a group of influential clerics.

Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Omar Samad said any sign of widespread mistreatment in Iraq could set back U.S. efforts to win over skeptical Afghans.

The British Broadcasting Corp. quoted unidentified sources close to the regiment as saying the gun and hat of the soldier in the Daily Mirror pictures appeared to be the wrong type, a truck was also a model not used in Iraq, and the photos looked tidy and staged.

Nicholas Soames, defense spokesman for the opposition Conservative Party, questioned the newspaper's decision to publish the photos, "where there is clearly a question mark over their veracity."

The Daily Mirror stood by the photos, saying it had carried out "extensive checks" to establish their authenticity.

(jl-scl)

AP

- AP