CAIRO,
March 6, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Tens of
thousands of detainees have been "arbitrarily" held by US-led
forces in Iraq without charge or trial and have been denied the right to
challenge their detention, an international human rights watchdog said
on Monday, March 6.
"Since
the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, tens of thousands of people have
been detained by foreign forces, mainly the US forces, without being
charged or tried and without the right to challenge their detention
before a judicial body," said Amnesty International.
In
a report entitled "Beyond Abu Ghraib", the London-based rights
group said there were more than 14,000 security detainees in the custody
of the US-led forces at the end of November 2005.
"Some
of the detainees had been held for more than two years without any
effective remedy or recourse."
The
international watchdog asserted that other detainees have been released
"without explanation or apology or reparation after months of
detention."
The
48-page-report some 4,710 were held at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison
and 138 detainees at Camp Cropper -- both in Baghdad.
There
were also some 7,365 detainees at Camp Bucca, near Basra, and 1,176 at
Fort Suse, near Suleimaniya.
A
further 650 were held at other military facilities elsewhere in Iraq.
Ripe
for Abuses
Amnesty
International asserted that the "arbitrary" system of
detention in Iraq is "a recipe for abuse."
"As
long as US and UK forces hold prisoners in secret detention conditions,
torture is much more likely to occur, to go undetected and to go
unpunished," Amnesty's UK Director Kate Allen said.
The
report details human rights violations for which the US-led forces in
Iraq were directly responsible as well as those increasingly committed
by Iraqi security forces.
"The
record of these forces, including US forces and their United Kingdom
allies, is an unpalatable one."
The
report cites the case of Kamal Muhammad, a 43-year-old father of 11 who
has been held without charge by US forces for over two years.
"His
brother reports that he has received insufficient food and has lost some
20 kilos in weight in prison," Amnesty said.
It
said over 200 detainees had been imprisoned for more than two years and
nearly 4,000 for over a year.
"There
are chilling signs that the lessons of Abu Ghraib have not been
learnt," Allen said.
"Not
only prisoners being held in defiance of international law, but the
allegations of torture continue to pour out of Iraq."
In
February, an Australian television station broadcast new images of
abuses of Iraqi prisoners at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison.
The
latest grainy, still photographs and video images showed prisoners, some
bleeding or hooded, bound to beds and doors, sometimes with a smiling
American guard beside them.
They
include two naked men handcuffed together, a pile of five naked
detainees photographed from the rear, and a dog straining at a leash
close to the face of a crouching man wearing a bright orange jumpsuit.
The
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) branded the horrific
images as a clear violation of international humanitarian law.
Ill-treatment
 |
|
A file photo of an Iraqi detainee being abused in the US-run Abu Ghraib prison.
|
The
rights group also accused Iraqi authorities of riding roughshod over
international conventions by using torture and ill-treatment in
detention facilities.
"Amnesty
International is concerned that neither the (Multi-national Forces) MNF
nor Iraqi authorities have established sufficient safeguards to protect
detainees from torture or ill-treatment."
It
urged the Iraqi, US and British authorities to take immediate action to
ensure that the fundamental human rights of all detainees in Iraq are
respected.
"Urgent,
concrete steps should be taken to address the situation.
"This
includes prompt, thorough and independent investigations into abuse
allegations, and action against anyone found to have used, ordered or
acquiesced in torture and the right of detainees to challenge their
detention."
On
Sunday, March 5, UN special representative Ashraf Jahangir Qazi urged
the Iraqi government to publish its findings on whether interior
ministry-linked forces had abused detainees and carried out
extra-judicial killings.
Dozens
of people, mostly illegally-held Sunni detainees, were found by US
forces in an underground interior ministry building, who had reportedly
been abused. The Iraqi government said it would investigate the matter.
Iraq's
Sunnis have repeatedly accused Shiite government-linked forces of
kidnapping members of their community and illegally detaining or killing
them.
Click
To Read Amnesty Report
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