Iraqi POWs detained by U.S. troops in Iraq

BAGHDAD, July 27 (IslamOline.net & News Agencies) – Four U.S. soldiers have been charged with assaulting and battering Iraqi prisoners of war, a Pentagon official said Sunday, July 27, in the first announcement of its kind since U.S. President George W. Bush declared operations over in Iraq on May 1. 

The four face charges of punching, kicking and breaking the bones of Iraqi POWs at the largest detention centre in Iraq, Camp Bucca near Umm Qasr, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported. 

The names of the soldiers have not been released, but they are reported to belong to a military police unit that helped guard prisoners at Camp Bucca.

"They have been charged with Article 32, which is basically like a grand jury in civilian terms, based on an investigation into allegations of mistreatment of POWs," Lieutenant Commander Nick Balice, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command, told AFP.

Under Article 32 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, a commander of the unit where the alleged infraction occurred must have -- together with military prosecutors - a hearing to review evidence and recommend a further course of action, according to defense officials.

"Certainly, there are several things that could happen," Balice explained. "It could be dismissed. It could be some other form of disciplinary action. Or it could a court-martial. It all depends on the determination."

The charges are based on an incident that occurred at the POW camp on May 12, the nature of which Balice would not disclose.

But other sources indicated the soldiers, two of whom are said to be women, are alleged to have used unwarranted physical force against the prisoners.

The announcement of the charges came three days after the human rights group Amnesty International issued a scathing report, saying it had collected many allegation torture or ill-treatment by U.S.-led forces in Iraq.

A spokesman for the London-based human rights watchdog told IslamOnline.net Saturday, July 26, that the organization submitted a 25-page report to the U.S.-led occupation administration in Iraq on "excessive use of force, shooting demonstrators, maltreating prisoners and civilians by American soldiers."

Iraqi inmates held at various U.S.-run detention centers are subjected prolonged hooding, sleep deprivation, restraint in painful positions -- sometimes combined with exposure to loud music and bright light, according to the document compiled by Amnesty monitors who have been working in Iraq since late April.

The monitors pointed, among others, to the case of 39-year-old Khreisan Khalis Aballey and his 80-year-old father, who were arrested at their home on April 30.

Aballey was hooded and handcuffed and made to stand or kneel facing a wall for nearly eight days while he was being interrogated, the report said.

He suffered from sleep deprivation because a bright light was placed next to his head while distorted music was booming from loudspeakers, according to the document.

His knees bled, and one his leg swell to the size of a football, while his father was held in the cell next to him and could hear his son's screams, the report said.