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Saturday, May 01, 2004

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International

Images cause outrage in Arab world

CAIRO, APRIL 30. Arab television stations led their newscasts on Friday with photographs of Iraqi prisoners being humiliated by U.S. military police, with one network saying the pictures were evidence of the ``immoral practices'' of American forces.

The pictures are potentially inflammatory in the Arab world, where nudity is considered dishonourable. Many Arabs are already angry about the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq.

``This will increase the sense of dissatisfaction among Iraqis toward the Americans,'' said a member of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, Mahmoud Othman. ``The resistance people will try to make use of such painful incidents.''

Al-Jazeera introduced the pictures by saying they showed the ``immoral practices'' of Iraq's occupation forces. The anchor reported that some of those responsible would face trial and could be discharged from the Army.

The images caused outrage among viewers as well.

Al-Arabiya's reporter said the pictures posed the question of how many more abuses were occurring without coming to public light. Amnesty International issued a statement from its London headquarters on Friday saying its research indicated that the abuse ``is not an isolated incident.''

Yemeni human rights activist Mustafa Rageh agreed. ``I believe lots of similar scenes are still hidden, and what we have seen today is just a sample,'' Rageh said. ``Such hideous scenes are severely violating human rights' basic principles.''

In March, the U.S. Army announced that six members of the 800th Military Police Brigade faced court martial for allegedly abusing about 20 prisoners at Abu Ghraib. The charges included dereliction of duty, cruelty and maltreatment, assault and indecent acts with another person. In addition to those criminal charges, the military has recommended disciplinary action against seven U.S. officers who helped run the prison, including Brig. Gen. Janice Karpinski, the commander of the 800th Brigade. — AP

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