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| New Iraq team set to inspect U.S.-run prisons |
| By Knight Ridder |
| Published: 07/19/2004 |
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The interim Iraqi government is taking a closer look at the treatment of detainees locked up in the Abu Ghurayb prison, Human Rights Minister Bakhityar Amin said last Monday. Amin said a team has been formed to inspect conditions inside the U.S.-controlled prison, where a prison-abuse scandal deeply embarrassed the U.S. military. The ministry also will open an office inside Abu Ghurayb, to be staffed by seven lawyers, two sociologists and a psychiatrist. Other ministry teams will regularly inspect other U.S.-controlled detention facilities in Iraq, he said. Meanwhile, the ministry is talking with U.S. military officials about making more than a dozen improvements to Abu Ghurayb and the other facilities, he said. Iraqis were outraged by photos showing U.S. soldiers abusing prisoners. The latest moves by the Iraqi government are intended to respond to public pressure to improve conditions for Iraqi detainees and to ensure more abuse doesn't occur. The ministry's requests include seeking better food, clothing, sanitary conditions and medical care; opening a prison library; separating juvenile detainees from adults; separating Iraqi detainees from non-Iraqi detainees; and decreasing detention times. "A number of these requests have been in the works for some time, and steady improvements have been made in all of these areas," said Lt. Cmdr. Barry Johnson, the public affairs officer for the multinational force's detainee operations office. "We welcome the participation of the Ministry of Human Rights in this process, which is why we readily accept their involvement in the camp." Amin said U.S. officials have assured him that "horrendous and unacceptable" treatment of prisoners won't recur. Iraqi monitoring of the prison so far has found no evidence that it has, he said. |
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