Iraq prison protestors demand end to torture

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 was to conduct interviews with the US-sponsored Al-Hurra television network and the Arab network Al Arabiya today to address Iraqi and Arab outrage at photographs of Iraqi prisoners being abused by smiling American guards.

In Washington, Major General Donald Ryder, the Army’s provost marshal, said there were 10 investigations under way of prisoner deaths, mostly in Iraq, and 10 pending cases involving possible assault of prisoners.

Two Iraqi prisoners were deemed to have been murdered by Americans and investigations were continuing.

A coalition soldier was killed today in the southern city of Karbala in a clash with Shiite militiamen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, the Polish command in Iraq said in a statement. There was no immediate information on the nationality of the soldier.

Polish peacekeepers are active in the area.

Outside Abu Ghraib prison, west of Baghdad, Iraqis gathered outside the main gate, with some chanting “America and Israel are the enemies of God”.

They also hoisted a banner which said: “Free women or we will launch jihad.”

Abdul-Salam Al-Qubeisi, a leading member of the Association of Muslim Scholars, which organised the protest, called on the United States to punish all of the soldiers who were involved in abusing Iraqis and pay compensation to the victims. He also said that human rights groups should be allowed to visit the prisoners.

“These demands are vital to us as Iraqis and meeting them will help maintain security and alleviate tension and violence,” al-Qubeisi said.

Members of the association later met with a prison official who “promised that our demands would be met,” said Sheik Majid al-Saadi, one member of the group.

US officials have said that the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib was an aberration, and that the guilty soldiers and their commanders would face justice. The prison was a notorious centre for torture and killings during the rule of Saddam Hussein.

Condoleezza Rice, Bush’s national security adviser, told the Arab television network Al Arabiya that Bush was “determined to find out if there is any wider problem than just what happened at Abu Ghraib. He had told Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld that he expected a full investigation.

Six military police face are facing criminal charges as a result of probes and seven officers who were there commanders have been disciplined administratively.

Iraq’s US-appointed human rights minister, Abdul-Basat al-Turki said he had resigned to protest the abuses.

The US military called in a new commander to take charge of prisons in Iraq after the previous chief, Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, was suspended amid the abuse investigations.

Major General Geoffrey Miller said yesterday that the military would cut the number of prisoners at Abu Ghraib from the current 3,800 to fewer than 2,000

The US military also said it was ordering troops to use blindfolds instead of hoods, and requiring interrogators to get permission before depriving inmates of sleep, a technique that released Iraqi prisoners say was common.

Gunmen shot and killed a city council member in Iraq’s southern city of Basra, a party official said.

City council member Radi Abdul-Zahra al-Hilaifi was gunned down by unidentified gunmen last night, the official said.