Iraq abuse rife, say rights groups

PHOTO images of American soldiers abusing and humiliating prisoners in Iraq may be just the tip of the iceberg and only a non-military inquiry will expose the full extent of the problem, human rights groups said yesterday.

In hundreds of interviews with former detainees over the past nine months, rights groups say a clear pattern of abuse has emerged, with the vast majority of prisoners saying they were beaten, hooded, deprived of sleep and often stripped.

In some isolated cases the abuse was much worse, they say, with detainees sodomized or sexually assaulted.

One international rights group, Christian Peacemaker Teams, which has been operating in Iraq on and off since late 2002, estimated that around 80% of former detainees it interviewed had suffered abuse of one form or another.

The US military estimates it has detained around 40,000 Iraqis, although most have been released. Around 10,000 remain in custody.

“Iraqis feel that they have been treated as sub-human by the Americans pretty much since the beginning,” said Stewart Vriesinga, a coordinator for Christian Peacemakers.

“If that is what is finally coming to light, then what we’re seeing now is probably just the tip of the iceberg.”

Mr Vriesinga said his organisation had taken depositions from Iraqis who said they had been stripped, made to pull their buttocks apart and been kicked in the rectum. In other instances he said female soldiers had detained Iraqis at checkpoints and forced them to expose themselves and simulate fellatio.