LOC11:04
08:04 GMT
LONDON, Jan 1 (KUNA) -- A secret army interrogation unit accused of being
responsible for the widespread abuse of Iraqi prisoners is being investigated
by the UK Ministry of Defence, it was revealed Friday.
Fourteen fresh claims of torture against the British Army include detailed
accounts of a shadowy team of military and the secret intelligence service,
known as MI5 interrogators, who are alleged to have authorised the physical
and sexual abuse of Iraqi detainees, the Independent newspaper reported in an
exclusive article.
The new allegations bring the total number of cases being investigated by
the UK Government to 47.
Many of the Iraqis allege they were abused after they were sent to a unit
called the Joint Forward Intelligence Team (JFIT) based at the Army's Shaibah
Logistics Base, 13 miles from Basra, between 2004 and 2007.
Nearly all the men say they were beaten, denied sleep and then dragged
around the prison compound before facing multiple interrogations.
In one account, the interrogators are accused of creating an image
superimposing a suspect's head on the body of a man who is sexually abusing a
child, and then threatening to disseminate the image throughout Basra, the
newspaper claimed.
In another, a detainee, held in solitary confinement for 36 days, alleges
that interrogators threatened to rape his wife and kill his children.
Many of the detainees' witness statements appear to corroborate each other
by referring to named soldiers responsible for their alleged torture.
According to the Iraqis' solicitors, Public Interest Law (PIL), the men
were all held in solitary confinement in a "compound within a compound"
guarded by a specialist detachment of soldiers.
The lawyers claim that the JFIT interrogators were a mix of members of the
military, MI5 and civilian staff, and that they took their orders directly
from London.
In 2003, the Americans raised concerns that the British were failing to
secure intelligence from Iraqi prisoners held at the UK/US Camp Bucca in
southern Iraq who were suspected of having close links with extremist
militias. They urged their British counterparts to take a tougher line.
Lawyers and human rights groups now believe the British heeded the
Americans' concerns by allowing personnel attached to JFIT to conduct coercive
and unlawful interrogations.
The Americans were later found to have tortured prisoners held at the Abu
Ghraib prison, which has since been renamed the Baghdad Central Prison.
Between 2004 and 2007, hundreds of prisoners were held at the Divisional
Temporary Detention Facility compound run by JFIT at the Shaibah base.
When the JFIT interrogators had finished with them, the prisoners were
released into the camp's main prison halls, where they claim their abuse
continued.
Many of these detainees complain of being subjected to sexual and physical
abuse by male and female soldiers.
Last year, the Independent newspaper reported that the Ministry of Defence
was investigating 33 separate allegations of abuse.
Phil Shiner, a human rights lawyer who is representing all the detainees,
said that the government must come clean about the role of the JFIT
interrogators in the alleged unlawful detention and abuse of Iraqi prisoners.
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence said that while she could not
comment on any individual cases, she was able to confirm that all 47 were or
will be investigated.
She also confirmed that JFIT is part of the army's intelligence corps and
that, as for any other military personnel, the allegations made against them
will be investigated but "remain allegations until they are proven."
Armed Forces Minister, Bill Rammell, said, "We must never forget that over
120,000 British troops have served in Iraq and the vast, vast majority have
conducted themselves to the highest standards of behaviour, displaying
integrity and selfless commitment. Only a tiny number have ever fallen short
of our high standards, but even a tiny number is unacceptable. All allegations
of abuse are taken very seriously." (end)
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