[News] US detainee death toll 'hits 108'

[News at freedomarchives.org]

BBC NEWS

US detainee death toll 'hits 108'
At least 108 people have died in US custody in Iraq and Afghanistan, 
according to figures compiled by the Associated Press news agency.

Most deaths were violent and some 25% are being investigated as possible 
abuse by US personnel, the agency said.

The death toll - far higher than previously thought - was based on 
information the agency obtained from the US army, navy and other officials.

The Pentagon said it was important to bear in mind the context of each death.

Some had died of natural causes, others had been victims of insurgent 
attacks on US detention facilities and some killed in violent prison 
uprisings, a spokesman told the BBC News website.

"That said, each of these deaths is investigated to determine the 
circumstances and whether there is any accountability," he added.

More than 60,000 people have been taken prisoner since the US-led wars in 
Afghanistan, in November 2001, and Iraq, in March 2003. Most have been freed.

Abuse report

The AP found that of the 108 deaths in US custody:
    * At least 26 have been investigated as criminal homicide involving the 
abuse of prisoners
    * At least 29 are attributed to suspected natural causes or accidents
    * Twenty-two are blamed on an insurgent mortar attack on Iraq's Abu 
Ghraib prison in April 2004
    * At least 20 are attributed to "justifiable homicide", where 
investigations found US troops used deadly force appropriately - primarily 
against rioting, escaping or threatening prisoners.

Last week, a Pentagon report to Congress into prisoner abuse in Iraq and 
Afghanistan cited only six prisoner deaths in what it called "closed, 
substantiated abuse cases" as of last September.

The report's author, Vice Adm Albert Church, blamed the abuse on a 
breakdown of discipline, but did not directly criticise any high-level 
officials.

The American Civil Liberties Union said it was "unacceptable" that no-one 
at the highest levels of government had been held accountable for the abuses.

"Despite the military's own reports of deaths and abuses of detainees in US 
custody, it is astonishing that our government can still pretend that what 
is happening is the work of a few rogue soldiers," said ACLU Executive 
Director Anthony Romero.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4355779.stm

Published: 2005/03/16 18:57:32 GMT

© BBC MMV


The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20050316/60a7e572/attachment.htm>