More torture victims found at Iraq ministry detention centre

An Iraqi government search of a detention centre in Baghdad operated by Interior Ministry special commandos found 13 prisoners who had suffe...

An Iraqi government search of a detention centre in Baghdad operated by Interior Ministry special commandos found 13 prisoners who had suffered abuse serious enough to require medical treatment, US and Iraqi officials said Sunday night.

An Iraqi official said at least 12 of the 13 prisoners had been subjected to “severe torture”, including courses of electric shock and episodes that left them with broken bones.

Government spokesman, Laith Kubba, said on Sunday that any findings at the prison would be “subject to an investigation”, but declined to comment on the allegations.

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The site, which was searched on Thursday, is the second Interior Ministry detention centre where cases of prisoner abuse have been confirmed by US and Iraqi officials.

US troops found the first site last month in an Interior Ministry building in central Baghdad. Several prisoners at that site appeared to have suffered beatings, and many were emaciated, US and Iraqi officials and witnesses said.

US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad issued a sharp public rebuke of the Iraqi government after the secret prison was discovered last month, demanding in a statement that all detainees nationwide be treated in accord with human rights.

Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, under heavy pressure from Khalilzad and Gen. George Casey, the top US commander in Iraq, ordered a nationwide investigation of detention centres after that discovery. The prison investigated on Thursday was the first centre examined as part of the government-ordered inquiry.

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Investigators said they found 625 prisoners at the centre but declined to give details about them. Most of the detainees found at the secret prison last month were Sunni Arabs who had been picked up by the Shi’ite-dominated Interior Ministry forces. —LAT-WP

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