Calls for int’l probe on Iraqi prisoner abuse

Hands of Iraqi prisoners are seen from between the bars of a prison at the southern city of Basra yesterday. Iraq's government faced calls for an international enquiry into abuse at a secret prison in Baghdad where inmates were reportedly tortured, beaten and starved.. PHOTO: AFP

The call by the Sunni-based Islamic Party follows revelations that some 170 detainees, mostly Sunni, were illegally held at a centre run by the Shiite-dominated interior ministry, in a case likely to embarrass the US military supervising local security forces.

"We insist on having an international investigation," Islamic Party spokesman Alaa Makki told AFP.

"There have been similar cases in the past and investigations into them led to nothing," said another party spokesman, Ayad Samarrai.

"We want an international and impartial inquiry as we are beginning to think there are people high up in government who are responsible, or at least accomplices."

Makki also blamed US-led forces for the abuse, saying it could not happen without "their green light".

Iraq Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari on Tuesday ordered an investigation into the allegations with a committee due to report its findings within two weeks.

Jaafari's spokesman Laith Kubba told the BBC the prime minister was "outraged" by the alleged abuse, adding: "It goes pretty much against all the core values that this government holds."

The case came to light after US forces raided the underground facilities of an interior ministry complex in south Baghdad Sunday.

Hussein Kamal, Iraq's deputy interior minister, told CNN television he saw evidence of torture. "I saw signs of physical abuse by brutal beating. One or two detainees were paralyzed. And some had their skin peeled off various parts of their body."

The Committee of Muslim Scholars, the main Sunni religious organisation in Iraq, accused "interior ministry services of resorting to torture and ransoming prisoners".

Committee spokesman Sheikh Abdel Salam al-Kubaissi said his organisation had "filmed testimony of released detainees who had been tortured" and that the videos were handed over to Arab League chief Amr Mussa when he visited Baghdad last month.