The Hindu : International : Red Cross says U.S. ignored jail warnings

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Saturday, May 08, 2004

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International

Red Cross says U.S. ignored jail warnings

BAGHDAD, MAY 7. The International Committee of the Red Cross and human rights groups in Iraq said yesterday they had been warning U.S. officials for months of ``humiliating'' abuses at Abu Ghraib prison but had failed to get a reply.

In claims that are likely further to embarrass the Bush administration, officials from Iraq's Human Rights Ministry said they had told Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq, as early as last November of widespread abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib.

Other human rights activists confirmed that stories of U.S. soldiers abusing detainees had been circulating since last autumn.

``We complained to the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) on many occasions,'' Jihad Zair, spokesman for Iraq's Human Rights Ministry, said. ``We got no response at all.''

It was not clear whether Mr Bremer had chosen to ignore the warnings or had passed on any misgivings to the Pentagon or the White House before last week. The Red Cross said it had also repeatedly asked U.S. authorities to improve conditions at Abu Ghraib.

``We were aware of what was going on and ... we have repeatedly requested the U.S. authorities to take corrective action,'' said Nada Doumani, spokeswoman for the Red Cross, speaking from Amman, Jordan.

The ICRC has been visiting prisoners at U.S. jails in Iraq since the outbreak of war.

According to correspondence obtained by the London-based Guardian newspaper, in January Richard Jones, Mr Bremer's deputy, cancelled three meetings with Iraqi human rights groups at the last minute.

In a scathing letter on February 27, Sheila Provencher, a U.S. human rights activist who had tried to arrange the meetings, complained that the groups were ``extremely frustrated'' by the ambassador's failure to take them seriously. On April 5 Iraq's Human Rights Minister, Abdul-Basit Turki, resigned in protest at the coalition's failure to heed his warnings on Abu Ghraib.

— Guardian Newspaers Limited 2004

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