US president George Bush told a sceptical Arab world that the actions of soldiers who mistreated Iraqi prisoners “don’t represent America” and pledged that “justice will be served”.

More than 2,000 Iraqis demonstrated in front of Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison today, chanting “democracy doesn’t mean killing innocent people” and demanding that the United States apologise for humiliating Iraqi prisoners.

US president George Bush is to give interviews to two Arab networks today to tell the region that abuses of Iraqi prisoners are “shameless and unacceptable”.