WikiLeaks publishes 100 files on detention policies

The WikiLeaks website began publishing yesterday what it said were more than 100 US Defence Department files detailing military detention policies in camps in Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay in the years after the Sept 11 attacks.

In a statement, WikiLeaks criticised regulations it said had led to abuse and impunity and urged human rights activists to use the documents to research what it called “policies of unaccountability”.

The statement quoted WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as saying: “The ‘Detainee Policies’ show the anatomy of the beast that is post-9/11 detention, the carving out of a dark space where law and rights do not apply, where persons can be detained without a trace at the convenience of the US Department of Defence.