98 prisoners died in US custody: report. 22/02/2006

98 prisoners died in US custody: report. 22/02/2006. ABC News Online

[This is the print version of story http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200602/s1575707.htm]

Last Update: Wednesday, February 22, 2006. 12:21pm (AEDT)
98 prisoners died in US custody: report

Ninety-eight prisoners have died in US custody in Iraq and Afghanistan since August 2002, the US-based Human Rights First organisation says.

Speaking on BBC television, the organisation says a report to be published by a group of US lawyers details at least 98 deaths, with at least 34 of them suspected or confirmed homicides.

Their dossier claims that 11 more deaths are deemed suspicious and that between eight and 12 prisoners were tortured to death.

The number of deaths in custody discounts those due to fighting, mortar attacks or violence between detainees.

They were directly attributable to their detention or interrogation in American custody, the BBC's Newsnight program said.

The report alleged that one person was made to jump off a bridge into the Tigris River in Iraq and another was forced inside a sleeping bag and suffocated.

The report's editor Deborah Pearlstein says the writers are comfortable with the reliability of the facts.

"These are documents based on army investigative reports, documents that we've obtained from the Government or that have come out through Freedom of Information Act requests in the United States," she said.

In response, the US Pentagon told the program that they were yet to see the report.

"Where we find allegations of maltreatment we take them very seriously and prosecute," they said.

US ambassador to Iraq, Dr Zalmay Khalilzad, says there are thousands of prisoners that have been held by the coalition.

"Some have died of natural causes and there have been charges of abuse," he said.

"Of course, we always investigate and determine what happened and appropriate punishment is given if the judgment is made that illegal actions took place.

"If those reports are true, of course they would be terrible abuses and they would be illegal things.

"Those who are responsible for them would be investigated and they will be punished."

http://www.humanrightsfirst.info/pdf/06221-etn-hrf-dic-rep-web.pdf