- British and American aid intended for Iraq's hard-pressed
police service is being diverted to paramilitary commando units accused
of widespread human rights abuses, including torture and extra-judicial
killings, The Observer can reveal.
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- Iraqi Police Service officers said that ammunition, weapons
and vehicles earmarked for the IPS are being taken by shock troops at the
forefront of Iraq's new dirty counter-insurgency war.
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- The allegations follow a wide-ranging investigation by
this paper into serious human rights abuses being conducted by anti-insurgency
forces in Iraq. The Observer has seen photographic evidence of post-mortem
and hospital examinations of alleged terror suspects from Baghdad and the
Sunni Triangle which demonstrate serious abuse of suspects including burnings,
strangulation, the breaking of limbs and - in one case - the apparent use
of an electric drill to perform a knee-capping.
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- The investigation revealed:
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- * A 'ghost' network of secret detention centres across
the country, inaccessible to human rights organisations, where torture
is taking place.
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- * Compelling evidence of widespread use of violent interrogation
methods including hanging by the arms, burnings, beatings, the use of electric
shocks and sexual abuse.
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- * Claims that serious abuse has taken place within the
walls of the Iraqi government's own Ministry of the Interior.
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- * Apparent co-operation between unofficial and official
detention facilities, and evidence of extra-judicial executions by the
police.
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- The issue of increasing human rights abuses has been
raised with the new Iraqi government by the Foreign Office, the US State
Department and the United Nations. British Embassy officials in Baghdad
have been briefed on the crisis by concerned senior Iraqi officials on
several occasions.
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- The Ministry of Defence confirmed that it has spent £27
million in gift aid on the Iraqi security services, which provided guns,
ammunition, and public order equipment such as protective vests and armoured
Land Rovers. An MoD source said the majority of this material went to the
police. A further £20m went to the police from the government's Global
Conflict Prevention Pool, jointly funded by the MoD, the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office and the Department for International Development.
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- Despite that, the British government has, until now,
remained silent in public on the issue of the country's widening human
rights crisis.
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- Liberal Democrat defence spokesman Michael Moore called
on ministers to make an immediate statement in the House of Commons: 'These
are serious reports that go to the heart of the question of the coalition's
oversight of the security situation in Iraq. The Foreign Office and the
Ministry of Defence must urgently inform Parliament about the scope of
their investigation into these allegations,' he said.
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- The Foreign Office said last night that it was taking
the reports of abuse 'very seriously'. It issued detailed responses to
the claims: 'We are aware and deeply concerned by reports of detainee abuse
by Iraqi police officers and of men in police uniforms committing serious
crimes, whether these men are genuine policemen or not. Any abuse of detainees
is unacceptable.'
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- An MoD spokesman told The Observer: 'We are aware of
the allegations. We have raised this with the Iraqi government at the highest
levels in Baghdad and Basra.'
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- Privately, there is a growing belief that complaints
are being stonewalled.
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- The investigation raises questions about the British
government's commitment to denying aid to governments that tolerate or
encourage human rights abuses.
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- International and Iraqi officials claim the use of torture
has become more extensive since the country's first democratically-elected
government was sworn in.
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- Steve Crawshaw of Human Rights Watch,said: 'There has
been the attempt to suggest that because Saddam's regime is over now everything
is rosy in Iraq. What is happening in official places in Iraq is simply
horrific and must be stopped.'
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- The Foreign Office stressed: 'Any abuse of detainees
is unacceptable. As soon as we become aware of any allegations of abuse
we raise them at the highest levels in Basra and Baghdad.
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- 'We would expect them to publish the findings of any
investigations, prosecute those found to have carried out any abuse, punish
those found guilty regardless of rank or background, and take all steps
to prevent any recurrence.'
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2005
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- http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1520186,00.html
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