Rioters start fires at Abu Ghraib prison

Abu Ghraib prison inmates rioted for a second straight day today to demand better conditions, setting fire to mattresses and seizing an assault rifle from a guard before authorities said the situation was brought under control.

Zeinab al-Kinani, who was part of a delegation that negotiated with the prisoners, said they demanded pardons and also the replacement of prison staff who they said were mistreating inmates.

After the delegation agreed to form a committee to study giving amnesty to some prisoners, most of the inmates returned to their cells, Mr al-Kinani said.

A small group who had refused to end their protest were forced back into their cells by authorities, and four prisoners were injured in the process, she said.

The prison, long a byword for brutality under former leader Saddam Hussein, gained further notoriety with the 2004 release of photos showing US soldiers abusing prisoners.

The facility is now back under Iraqi control and has been officially renamed the Baghdad Central Prison, though locals still refer to it as Abu Ghraib. Eleven US soldiers were eventually convicted of crimes at the prison.

The unrest began yesterday evening when three inmates started a fire in their cell and tried to overpower guards, US military spokesman Master Sgt Nicholas Conner said.

Prison authorities called in the Iraqi army to help quell the disturbance, and the US military was asked to provide helicopter support to monitor areas outside the prison, Sgt Conner said.

Iraqi authorities reported that three guards and three prisoners were injured before security forces regained control, Conner said.

The US military said it was not called to help when violence flared up again on today.

Iraqi politician Shatha al-Abousi, who is a member of parliament’s human rights committee, told the AP that two prisoners were killed during the rioting on Thursday.

But Deputy Justice Minister Busho Ibrahim insisted there had been no fatalities in the two days of riots, and she said Iraqi security forces were now back in full control of the prison.

One inmate had managed to get a rifle from a guard, Mr al-Abousi said, and it was not clear how authorities got it back.

“The situation is calm now in the prison, and everything has returned to normal,” Mr Ibrahim said without elaborating.

Local reports on what set off the initial violence varied widely. One said the disturbance was a clash between Sunni and Shiite inmates, while another said it was an organised protest by inmates demanding to be allowed to use mobile phones.

Shiite lawmakers from a political bloc loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said they had information that the unrest was sparked by inhumane treatment of inmates by the prison administration.

They also called for an investigation into the incident and said they would bring it up before parliament.

“We will not let this incident at Abu Ghraib prison pass quietly,” said spokesman Ahmed al-Masoudi in a statement on the bloc’s website.