New Abu Ghraib abuse photos broadcast in Australia

[Henk Elegeert]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-02-15T140406Z_01_SYD143554_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ-ABUSE.xml&archived=False
Top News Article | Reuters.com

"
SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian television station on Wednesday
broadcast what it said were previously unpublished images of physical
abuse of Iraqi prisoners inside the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.

The Special Broadcasting Service's "Dateline" current affairs program
said the images had been taken at the same time as the now-infamous
photographs of U.S. soldiers abusing Iraqis in Abu Ghraib, which sparked
international outrage in 2004.

While some of the latest pictures are similar to those images, others
suggest further abuse in the form of incidents of killing, torture and
sexual humiliation, Dateline said.

The grainy still photographs and video images show prisoners, some
blood-soaked or hooded, bound to various kinds of apparatus, sometimes
pictured with a smiling guard beside them.

The pictures were swiftly broadcast by Arabic television stations and
may further inflame Arab anger, already stirred up by the publication on
Sunday of images of British soldiers apparently beating Iraqi youths and
by cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad printed in European papers.

Executive producer Mike Carey said Dateline had obtained a file of
hundreds of pictures -- some that have been seen before and others that
show new abuses.

He declined to say where the station had got the pictures from, but said
he assumed other journalists or media also had access to them.

Some of the video footage apparently shows one prisoner abusing himself
by bashing his own head against a wall, while other photographs appear
to show corpses, said Carey.

The program said some prisoners at Abu Ghraib had been killed when U.S.
soldiers ran out of rubber bullets as they tried to quell a riot at the
jail, and resorted to using live rounds.

Carey said some images featured prisoners in sexually humiliating acts
that were deemed too graphic to broadcast.

A U.S. military jury sentenced Charles Graner to 10 years in prison last
year for his leading role in the 2003 Abu Ghraib torture of Iraqi
prisoners. His former lover, Lynndie England, was later sentenced to
three years for her role in the abuse.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has been granted access to the
images under U.S. Freedom of Information provisions, but the U.S.
government is appealing the decision, Dateline said.

ACLU lawyer Amrit Singh told Dateline the images were evidence of
"systemic and widespread abuse" of prisoners by U.S. soldiers.
"

Henk Elegeert

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