http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=55327Twenty-Seven Detainee Homicides in U.S. Custody; Lax Policies, Inadequate Investigations Create Culture of Impunity, Human Rights First Research Shows
NEW YORK, Oct. 20 /U.S. Newswire/ -- More than 100 detainees have died in U.S. custody since 2002, Human Rights First research in a soon to be released report indicates, including 27 cases the Army has identified to date as suspected or confirmed homicides, and at least seven cases in which detainees were tortured to death. The findings come as chairmen and ranking members of a House/Senate Conference Committee are scheduled to meet next week to determine whether to include in a defense appropriations bill an amendment setting clear rules for U.S. interrogation policy to prohibit abusive treatment (see list of conference committee members at
http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/us_law/etn/misc/conf_com.htm. )
New analysis of dozens of deaths in U.S. custody by Human Rights First reveals a pattern of grossly inadequate and flawed investigations -- compromising the United States' ability to hold individual wrongdoers accountable. The investigations have been flawed in various ways. (Case examples involving each of these flaws are given at the end of this document; references are available on request.) According to Human Rights First:
<snip>
Abu Malik Kenami (Abdureda Lafta Abdul Kareem), a 43-year-old Iraqi man, died on Dec. 9, 2003, in an American detention facility in Mosul, Iraq. He had been captured four days earlier and, according to the soldiers who interrogated him upon his arrival, he seemed to be in good health and did not suffer from any pre-existing medical conditions. On the night of Dec. 8, soldiers punished Kenami for talking by forcing him to perform "up and downs" -- an exercise in which he was required to continually stand then sit, used as a disciplinary tool by U.S. forces in Iraq -- several times for periods of up to 20 minutes. Kenami had been subjected repeatedly to "up and downs" during his detention. Soldiers then flexicuffed his hands behind his back, and covered his head with a sandbag -- a hood. Kenami was then ordered to lie down between detainees in his overcrowded cell (built for 30 prisoners, at that time it housed 66). When a guard attempted to rouse the prisoners the next morning, Kenami, still bound and hooded, was dead.
The Army's initial criminal investigations into Kenami's death could not determine the cause of death without an autopsy. It was only months later, after the revelations from Abu Ghraib, that the Army reopened many cases of deaths in custody to review that it became clear how troubling the original criminal investigation had been. In the Army's own words from the review, released through later Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, "it was weak in Thoroughness and Timeliness." In addition to the lack of autopsy, the review determined that important interviews were not conducted of the interrogators, medic, or detainees present at the scene of the death, and that key details were omitted from the report. According to the Army's review, the original investigation file "(did) not mention the presence, or lack of, signs of a struggle, or of blood or body fluids," "the crime scene sketch ... (did) not document where guard personnel found the deceased," and "records of medical treatment of the deceased were not collected and reviewed." Of note, the Army's original administrative investigation had recommended that an Iraqi physician be brought in to treat the detainees, noting that among other benefits, "it would (also) decrease the perception of our involvement or cover-up in events like these." The cause of Kenami's death remains officially undetermined. No punitive or disciplinary action has been taken.
<snip>
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
