Iraqi prisoners were abused at 'UK's Abu Ghraib', court hears

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/nov/06/iraq-prisoner-abuse-court

Detainees were starved, deprived of sleep and threatened with execution at JFIT facilities near Basra, high court told

* Ian Cobain
* The Guardian, Saturday 6 November 2010

Evidence of the alleged systematic and brutal mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at a secret British military interrogation centre that is being described as "the UK's Abu Ghraib" emerged yesterday during high court proceedings brought by more than 200 former inmates.

The court was told there was evidence that detainees were starved, deprived of sleep, subjected to sensory deprivation and threatened with execution at the shadowy facilities near Basra operated by the Joint Forces Interrogation Team, or JFIT.

It also received allegations that JFIT's prisoners were beaten, forced to kneel in stressful positions for up to 30 hours at a time, and that some were subjected to electric shocks. Some of the prisoners say that they were subject to sexual humiliation by women soldiers, while others allege that they were held for days in cells as small as one metre square.