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British-trained police in Iraq 'killed prisoners with drills'
By Francis Elliott, Raymond Whitaker and Kim Sengupta
11/20/05 "The
Independent" -- -- British-trained police operating in
Basra have tortured at least two civilians to death with electric
drills, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.
John Reid, the Secretary of State for Defence, admits that he knows
of "alleged deaths in custody" and other "serious prisoner abuse" at
al-Jamiyat police station, which was reopened by Britain after the
war.
Militia-dominated police, who were recruited by Britain, are
believed to have tortured at least two men to death in the station.
Their bodies were later found with drill holes to their arms, legs
and skulls.
The victims were suspected of collaborating with coalition forces,
according to intelligence reports. Despite being pressed "very hard"
by Britain, however, the Iraqi authorities in Basra are failing to
even investigate incidents of torture and murder by police,
ministers admit.
The disclosure drags Britain firmly into the growing scandal of
officially condoned killings, torture and disappearances in Iraq.
More than 170 starving and tortured prisoners were discovered last
week in an Interior Ministry bunker in Baghdad.
American troops who uncovered the secret torture chamber are also
said to have discovered mutilated corpses, several bearing drill
mark
Adam Price, the Plaid Cymru MP for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, who
uncovered the death at al-Jamiyat police station, called for an
immediate UN investigation into police torture. "The Government
keeps on saying that respect for human rights is a pre-condition of
withdrawal. Well, it should be a pre-condition for UK soldiers to
continue risking their lives in Iraq," he said.
Mr Reid said: "I am aware of serious allegations of prisoner abuse
at the Jamiyat, including two deaths in custody. We take this very
seriously. We have been pressing the Iraqi authorities very hard to
investigate these allegations thoroughly and then to take the
appropriate action."
Ministry of Defence sources privately confirm that the two SAS
soldiers seized and held in Jamiyat in September were investigating
allegations of police torture prompted by the discovery of the
bodies.
British forces in armoured vehicles smashed their way into the
station to rescue them, but officers have admitted they are
powerless to protect civilians in southern Iraq from militias, and
military patrols have been withdrawn from central Basra in the wake
of the September clashes.
In the US-controlled districts of Iraq, some senior military and
intelligence officials have been accused of giving tacit approval to
the extra-judicial actions of counter-insurgency forces.
Critics claim the situation echoes American collaboration with
military regimes in Latin America and south-east Asia during the
Cold War, particularly in Vietnam, where US-trained paramilitaries
were used to kill opponents of the South Vietnamese government.
© 2005 Independent News & Media (UK) Ltd.
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