New Video Images Highlight Iraq Abuse

21/05/2004| IslamWeb

In a collection of hundreds of so-far-unreleased photographs and short digital videos obtained by The Washington Post, US soldiers are shown abusing detainees at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. The new pictures and videos go beyond the photos previously shown in the media, displaying a variety of abusive techniques and US soldiers appearing to delight in abuse of detainees at the US-run prison near Baghdad, the newspaper said on Friday. Photos and videos from Abu Ghraib were presented to Army investigators in January. The images began surfacing publicly last month, severely damaging the US reputation in the Arab world. The Post said one video clip showed five hooded and naked detainees standing against the wall in the darkness, each masturbating, with two other hooded detainees crouched at their feet. Another segment of video showed a prisoner handcuffed to the outside of a cell door, slamming his head into the green metal, the newspaper said. **Hooded and cloaked*** An image on the newspaper's Web site showed a soldier wielding a baton as a naked detainee covered in a brown substance stood in a hallway with his arms outstretched and ankles cuffed together. Another photo showed a prisoner in an orange jumpsuit recoiling from a snarling dog, it said. In a description of some photos the article said: "Hooded and cloaked men are handcuffed to hallway rails. A prisoner in flexible handcuffs is made to use a banana to simulate anal sex. Two naked male detainees are handcuffed to each other. A naked detainee hangs upside down from a top bunk." The newspaper said the new images did not shed light on who directed the abuse, which is the subject of several investigations. But in one photo a soldier is seen cocking his fist as he holds a hooded detainee in a headlock amid a pile of several detainees. Later he is seen kneeling atop the pile, flexing his muscles, a broad smile on his face, the newspaper said. US soldiers also turned the cameras on themselves, filming scenes of consensual sex, the Post said. **Secret statements*** Defence Department spokesman Lawrence DiRita told The Post that the images sounded like those the Pentagon showed to members of the US Congress and that Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had warned might become public. A Pentagon spokesman was not immediately available for comment. Lawmakers saw more than 1600 images from the investigation of mistreatment of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib. The Post also said it had obtained 13 previously secret sworn statements by detainees at the prison that further detailed abuse. Many of the detainees described how they were sexually humiliated and assaulted, threatened with rape and forced to masturbate in front of female soldiers, according to the newspaper. The statements added allegations of prisoners being ridden like animals and forced to retrieve their food from toilets, the newspaper said. **Detainees release*** Meanwhile, six buses filled with Iraqis drove away from the gates of Abu Ghraib early on Friday as part of a scheduled release of 472 prisoners. The buses left the jail, west of Baghdad, at 9:30 am (05:30 GMT), to the cries of female relatives of prisoners, among hundreds of people who flock to the prison every day for news of their loved ones. "I've been waiting here for eight hours. I hope 16 of my relatives will be released today," said Hamid Idham Jasim, a 24-year-old man who says his brothers and cousins - arrested last September - are jailed at Abu Ghraib. A group of around 20 men also chanted slogans denouncing Governing Council member Ahmad Chalabi, whose home was raided by Iraqi police Thursday. Some 293 prisoners were freed the previous Friday from the jail, which has been the centre of a prisoner abuse scandal. Former inmates among the group told journalists that they had been abused and humiliated at the hands of American guards. **PHOTO CAPTION*** The photo shows Iraqi prisoner in an orange jumpsuit recoiling from a snarling US dog. (Photo Washington Post)