U.N. expert urges Iraq torture probe

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/13182909.htm

U.N. expert urges Iraq torture probe

GENEVA - An independent investigation is needed to assess allegations of torture in U.S. and Iraqi detention centers, which extend beyond recent reports of prisoners found malnourished and possibly tortured by Iraq security forces at a Baghdad lockup, a U.N. rights expert said Wednesday.

Manfred Nowak, a special investigator on torture for the world body, told The Associated Press he has received various claims of torture and degrading treatment by U.S. and Iraqi forces in Iraq, and he said he was "not surprised" by the Iraqi prime minister's revelation of possible prisoner abuse.

Iraqi premier Ibrahim al-Jaafari said Tuesday that 173 Iraqi detainees - mostly Sunni Arabs, malnourished and showing signs of torture - were found at an Interior Ministry basement lockup seized Sunday by U.S. forces in Baghdad.


"That torture is still practiced in Iraq after Saddam Hussein, that is no secret," Nowak said a telephone interview from Vienna, Austria. "It is shocking, but on the other hand, we have received allegations of these secret places in Iraq already for quite a long time."