Washington - A US human rights group said Wednesday that
medical examinations of prisoners held at prisons in Iraq and Cuba by
the US military confirmed evidence that had been were tortured.
The Boston-based group, Physicians for Human Rights, conducted an
evaluation of 11 detainees who were freed without being charged after
being held at the prisons in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Iraq and
Afghanistan.
The report was released as senior Pentagon officials were grilled
this week before the Senate Armed Services Committee to explain how
they sought and received information from military trainers on
abusive techniques that could be used to interrogate detainees in the
war on terrorism.
The physician's group report gives details for example of how an
Iraqi businessman and imam of a local mosque was beaten unconscious,
'kept naked and isolated in a cold dark room for three weeks,' and
placed in isolation in 'a urine-soaked room for two months.'
The Iraqi, named as Kamal, showed 'physical and psychological
evidence consistent with the abuse' he described, the report said.
'Particularly striking is the severity of Kamal's depressive
symptoms, with feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness and guilt, and
difficulty sleeping,' the physicians wrote, saying his symptoms would
merit hospitalization if he were living in the US.
The descriptions in the report echo testimony before the US Senate
on Tuesday that charged senior Pentagon officials sought and received
information from military trainers on abusive techniques that could
be used to interrogate detainees in the war on terrorism.
The Pentagon sought the harsh methods from the military agency
tasked with training US soldiers to resist interrogations in the
event of capture by enemies likely to violate the Geneva Conventions,
said Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services
Committee. A former head of the training programme for US soldiers
corroborated the findings.
The techniques to train US soldiers included stress positions,
keeping detainees naked, use of dogs, sleep deprivation and the use
of hoods during interrogations. Some of those were approved in 2002
and later rescinded by then-defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld for use
at Guantanamo Bay.
Leaked photographs in 2004 showed the practices were used at the
Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The images provoked worldwide outrage and
gave a black eye to the US military. Human-rights advocates have
argued that some of the methods employed by the Bush administration
amounted to torture.
The Bush administration denies that the US subjects detainees to
torture or abuse but has conceded it does use tough interrogations to
glean information from suspected terrorists about other possible
plots.
USA
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