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| Iraq-Jordan | |
| US Army charges six soldiers with cruelty in Iraq | |
| 2004-03-21 | |
| The US military has charged six soldiers with offences including cruelty, mistreatment and assault following a criminal investigation into allegations of prisoner abuse at a jail in Iraq. Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, the deputy director of operations for the US military in Iraq, said the soldiers, all from a military police battalion, had been suspended from duty pending further investigation ahead of any trial. "As a result of the criminal investigation, six military personnel have been charged with criminal offences including conspiracy, dereliction of duty, cruelty and maltreatment, assault and indecent acts with another," he said. General Kimmitt did not disclose the soldiers' names or ranks. "The Coalition takes all reports of detainee abuse seriously and all allegations of mistreatment are investigated," he said. "We are committed to treating all persons under coalition control with dignity, respect and humanity." The charges relate to accusations of abuses carried out in November and December last year on around 20 detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison on the western outskirts of Baghdad. The investigation was launched in January this year. Abu Ghraib, a notorious prison under Saddam Hussein, is where the US military now holds several thousand prisoners, most of them rounded up on suspicion of carrying out attacks against US-led forces. General Kimmitt said a total of 17 military personnel were suspended from duty or reassigned while the investigation was conducted. He did not say what ranks they held. It is not the first case of prisoner abuse in Iraq. On January 5, the US Army said three soldiers had been discharged for abusing Iraqi prisoners of war at another detention camp. The three were found guilty of beating, kicking and harassing prisoners at Camp Bucca in southern Iraq. The Army had said the three faced up to 25 years in jail if convicted of all charges. The soldiers said they acted in self-defence.
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| Posted by:Steve White |