IRAQ: TORTURE

Guardian: International outcry greets allegations of police abuse

· Ministers launch inquiry after detainees found
· Shia paramilitaries now control force, say Sunnis

Manfred Novak, the UN special envoy on torture, based in Geneva, yesterday called for an independent inquiry. He has received various allegations of torture and degrading treatment by both US and Iraqi forces in Iraq. "That torture is still practised in Iraq after Saddam Hussein is no secret," he said.


Reuters: Iraqi says he was held with hundreds in secret jail

An Iraqi man told on Thursday how he was tortured along with hundreds of other detainees in an Interior Ministry building similar to a secret bunker at the centre of a prisoner abuse scandal.

"There was an average of 800 prisoners at any one time in a building controlled by the Wolf Brigades (Interior Ministry special forces)," the man, who asked that he only be identified by his initials H.H., told Reuters.

"They had lists of people and lists of charges and they tortured people to get confessions."


The Times: On the spot: 'torture prison is tip of the iceberg'

"There is not the same kind of shock and controversy over the discovery of the basement prison in Jadriya as there was over abuse scandal Abu Ghraib, because everyone has known for some time that this has been going on. Everyone knows someone to whom this has happened. "There is more of a sense of relief that it has finally been brought into the open - although people are angry that it has taken so long.


FT: Torture photos fuel scandal of secret Iraqi jail

Graphic photographs of injuries allegedly suffered by detainees in Iraqi custody surfaced today as the government attempted to dismiss international criticism over a secret torture prison.


ICH: Torture Photos gathered from contacts in Iraq

Warning: The pictures are very disturbing and should only be viewed by a mature audience