Sunnis demand international torture probe

Tariq al-Hashmi, leader of the Iraqi Islamic Party, speaks during a news conference in Baghdad. Picture / Reuters

BAGHDAD - Leading Sunni politicians, including members of the Iraqi Islamic Party, in Iraq yesterday demanded an international inquiry following the discovery that 173 people had been tortured and held captive in a Ministry of Interior bunker.

They claimed that such abuse was regularly carried out by paramilitaries connected to the government and accused US forces of giving "the green light" to such practice.

The call for an independent inquiry was backed by the United Nations' special investigator on torture.

But the Badr Organisation, a Shia militia suspected of carrying out the mistreatment on the prisoners, mainly Sunnis, denied being involved.

The Organisation also declared that a raid by American forces on the underground complex in central Baghdad, which led to the prisoners being found, was a violation of Iraq sovereignty and an attempt to gain favour with Sunnis ahead of the forthcoming national elections.

The militia charged that the action by the US troops was "exactly the same" as a raid carried out on a police station in Basra by British troops to free two "spies" --- SAS soldiers --- arrested by Iraqi police.

The discovery of the prisoners, most of them starving, some allegedly flayed, is a matter of great embarrassment to the US administration trying to recover from the Abu Ghraib scandal and has pledged to stamp out abuse by the Iraqi government.

Manfred Nowak, the UN special investigator on torture, backed the call for an independent investigation.

He said: "What we hear is shocking, but on the other hand, we have received allegations of these secret places in Iraq for quite a long time.

It only means that there is need for an impartial and independent investigation." A guard at the complex in Jadriya, wearing fatigues of the type favoured by the Shia militias, said he had no problems with the way the prisoners were treated because they were "terrorists".

He described how prisoners were brought there after being arrested at their homes or snatched in the street.

"We placed sacks over their heads and tied their hands behind their backs", said Seif Saad, an 18-year-old former labourer who said he has never received police training.

"They were brought here for interrogations over bombings. Some were released, some were sent to prisons. They were brought here if they were suspected of terrorism, it didn't matter whether they were Sunnis, Shias or Kurds."

Hussein Kamal, Deputy Interior Minister, who visited the bunker said: "I never thought I would witness scenes like these. I saw signs of physical abuse by brutal beatings, one or two detainees were paralysed and some had their skin peeled off various parts of their bodies." He also revealed that "instruments of torture" were found in the building.

Omar Hujail, a member of the Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party, maintained that an investigation ordered by Iraq's prime minister, Ibrahim Jaafari, would be a whitewash.

"This is not the only place where torture takes place," he said.

"We have been telling them for ages that there are people wearing the uniforms of the Interior Ministry raiding houses and arresting people at night, but everybody denies it.

"We urge the United Nations and human rights organisations to denounce these violations and we call on them to conduct a fair international investigation."

The Badr Organisation, formerly the Badr Brigade, is the armed wing of the Shia party SCIRI (the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq) which is an influential voice in the Iraqi government, with the Interior Minister, Bayan Jabor, one its members.

The Badr Brigade was formed in exile in Iran during the Saddam regime and its members are said to have taken over large sections of the police force in Basra in the British-controlled south.

Haid al-Amery, the head of the Badr Organisation, said: " This bunker is run by the Interior Ministry, the Americans are here every day. Badr has nothing to do with this. Why should Badr be involved in the first place?"

The Americans have violated Iraqi sovereignty by raiding the place the way they did.

They have done exactly the same as the British did when they raided a place in Basra and freed spies who were harming the Iraqi people.

"The Americans are accused of violating human rights at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib. They want to cover up their crimes."

Hundreds of bodies, often with hands tied behind their backs, often with signs of torture have been discovered in Iraq, thought to be victims of 'death squads' of paramilitaries associated with the government.

Earlier this year, Human Rights Watch charged in a report that Iraqi security forces have been responsible for widespread abuse.

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