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Abu Ghraib prisoners speak of 'torture'<br><br>
Tuesday 04 May 2004 9:53 AM GMT <br><br>
<br>
<b>Former inmates of the US-occupation run Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad
still find it difficult to relate their experiences of torture and
humiliation, as more pictures of abuse come to light.<br><br>
</b></font><font size=2>One of the released detainees who was forced to
pose naked in a human pyramid has told Aljazeera that the acts committed
against them were so horrible that he still could not get himself to
speak about most of it. <br><br>
"They wanted to humiliate us. It was disgusting", said Hashim
Muhsin.<br><br>
"They covered our heads with plastic bags and hit our backs with
sharp objects, which added to our wounds". <br><br>
"They then took off all our clothes, made us stand next to the wall
and carried out immoral acts that I cannot even talk about", Muhsin
continued. <br><br>
He said "women soldiers took pictures of naked men and did not
care". <br><br>
<b>CIA present<br><br>
</b>Another released prisoner, Haider Sabbar told Aljazeera that
"CIA officials and two Iraqi and Egyptian translators showed us
immoral pictures of the acts that took place" before interrogating
them. <br><br>
</font><font face="verdana" size=2><b>"They then took off all our
clothes, made us stand net to the wall and carried out immoral acts that
I cannot even talk about"<br><br>
<br>
</b></font>Seven US soldiers have been reprimanded for the abuse of Iraqi
prisoners and six more are under investigation. The reprimands were the
first known punishment meted out to soldiers involved in the mistreatment
of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. <br><br>
Last week, an American television channel, CBS, broadcast images showing
Iraqis stripped naked, hooded and being tormented by their US captors.
<br><br>
An internal US army report found that Iraqi detainees were subjected to
"sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses", according to
The New Yorker magazine. <br><br>
<b>Intelligence blamed<br><br>
</b>Brigadier-General Janis Karpinski who oversaw the prison, claimed she
did not know about the abuse and blamed "military intelligence"
for being behind the abuse.<br><br>
<br>
"The cellblocks were actually in operation for the interrogations
and isolation under the Military Intelligence control," she said.
"It was part of the Abu Ghraib prisoner operation but those
cellblocks, cellblock 1A and 1B and the prison was actually under the
control at that time".<br><br>
Karpinski added that "there was one photograph that didn't show the
faces completely, but the photograph showed 32 boots (of a lightweight
boot)". <br><br>
Asked whether she was saying the people who were wearing those boots were
CIA or military intelligence, she replied "I'm saying other people
than the military police were the ones committing the
abuses."<br><br>
<b>'Shared responsibility'<br><br>
<br>
</b>Karpinski said she thought "there are others responsible here,
not limited to one person or any individual or command. But there is a
shared responsibility in this."<br><br>
The alleged abuses were said to have involved about 20 prisoners and took
place in November and December last year.<br><br>
The New Yorker magazine, meanwhile has released additional images of the
abuse, including that of the dead body of a prisoner, wrapped in
cellophane and packed in ice as well as a group of Iraqis bound and lying
on the ground. <br><br>
Latest reports by Aljazeera's correspondent, quoting a US military
spokesman is that 208 prisoners have been released from the Abu Ghraib
prison. <br><br>
<font size=3><b>Aljazeera + Agencies<br><br>
<br>
</b>You can find this article at:<br>
<a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/316F0ADE-FDFC-466A-95F6-A591FD01A75C.htm" eudora="autourl">http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/316F0ADE-FDFC-466A-95F6-A591FD01A75C.htm</a>
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