Iraq detainees 'found starving'
reposted from the BBC
There have been persistent claims of abuse by Iraqi security forces. Iraq's government says it has begun an investigation into the alleged abuse of more than 170 detainees held by Iraqi security forces in Baghdad.
The prisoners, many malnourished and some showing signs of torture, were found when US troops took control of an interior ministry building on Sunday.
The US raid followed repeated enquiries by the parents of a missing teenager.
Iraq's prime minister has promised to find those responsible for any abuse. Most of those held were Sunnis.
'Hard evidence'
The BBC's Caroline Hawley in Baghdad says the discovery will not come as a surprise to many Iraqis.
"I saw signs of physical abuse by brutal beating, one or two detainees were paralysed and some had their skin peeled off various parts of their bodies"
Hussein Kamal
Deputy interior minister
"There have been persistent allegations of abuse by members of the Shia-dominated security forces, she says. But Sunday's discovery is hard evidence and officials believe it may be the tip of the iceberg."
There are suspicions the building may also have been used as a base for a militia called the Badr Brigade, and that such militias may have infiltrated Iraq's security services, our correspondent adds.
The prison is reported to be in the central Jadiriya district of Baghdad.
Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari said he had been told that 173 detainees had been held, that they appeared malnourished, and may have been "subjected to some kind of torture". He launched an inquiry and said the prisoners had been moved and would be given medical care.
Deputy interior minister Hussein Kamal, who saw some of the abuse victims personally, said: "I've never seen such a situation like this during the past two years in Baghdad, this is the worst.
"I saw signs of physical abuse by brutal beating, one or two detainees were paralysed and some had their skin peeled off various parts of their bodies."
Repeated allegations
The head of Iraq's largest Sunni political party said attempts to raise claims of torture in government detention centres had been rebuffed.
"According to our knowledge, regrettably, all the detainees were Sunnis," Mohsen Abdul-Hamid, head of the Iraqi Islamic Party, told the Associated Press news agency. Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari said the prisoners had now been moved
"In order to search for a terrorist, they used to detain hundreds of innocent people and torture them brutally."
A US soldier who carried out the raid said: "It's not what we expected at all, we were looking for a 15-year-old boy."
But the BBC's correspondent says the discovery will be embarrassing for the US military, which has been training Iraq's security services.
Human rights group Amnesty International welcomed the investigation but said it should cover other allegations of torture and maltreatment by Iraqi police and security forces belonging to the interior ministry.
The security forces have faced repeated allegations of systematic abuse and torture of detainees, and of extra-judicial killings.
A report by pressure group Human Rights Watch earlier this year said methods used by Iraqi police included beating detainees with cables, hanging them from their wrists for long periods and giving electric shocks to sensitive parts of the body.
GODDAMN FUCKING GOD FUCKING DAMN SHIT FUCK!!! Of all things, with all this pious argument that we're "spreading freedom and democracy" why, FUCK!
please excuse my frustration, its curious that even though there has been much publicity surrounding the abu ghraib scandal, the now exposed secret prisons in eastern europe, and the flights of detainees by the CIA to countries which use torture in their interrogations, that there has been little mention of the brutal tactics used by the Iraqi security forces which are being trained by the US to take over the hell which we have created. I have heard reports that civilians are regularly physically abused, harassed and intimidated, and that this is standard operating procedure in house to house searches and patrols. This DOES NOT include the outright diabolical torture of those actually taken into detention. Well, apparently the last guy we imposed to rule Iraq (Saddam) got uppity and was removed, so now we allow the same violations of human dignity which took place under Saddam to be perpetrated by a new puppet army. Its just business as usual. Torture is okay, as long as they're darker than you. Its time to write letters to the churches and pastors who are supporting this administration, detailing the horrors which are being perpetrated in our name.