Tuesday, July 06, 2004

Abuse of minors in Abu Ghraib? A German TV documentary says yes. The English-language Aftenposten Norway has a story:

Norwegian authorities reacted with shock and disgust Tuesday to a documentary on German TV that American soldiers allegedly have been holding children in prisons in Iraq, and abusing them as well. The Norwegians joined the Red Cross and Amnesty International in calling for an immediate end to the abuse, and release of the underage prisoners, some of whom are as young as 12 years.

In one case, a girl around age 15 was said to have been shoved up against a wall by a group of male soldiers who proceeded to manhandle her. They then started ripping off her clothes, and she was half-naked before military police broke in.

In another case, a boy aged 15 or 16 was stripped naked and sprayed with water before being placed in an open truck and driven around in the cold night air last winter. He then was covered with mud....


A story about the TV broadcast from Der Spiegel, translated here, has more:

According to "Report Mainz," a German television magazine, "107 children were registered held between January and May while in custody in at least six different internment centers," Florian Westphal, speaking for the International Red Cross told the magazine in Geneva....

An as-yet unpublished document from June 2004 states, "Children, which in Basra and Karbala had been arrested because of alleged activities directed against the coalition ... were routinely transferred into internment in Umm Kasr. Concern was expressed as to the classification of these children as legitimate detainees, their indefinite internment without contact of family members, and their denial of due process."


There's been Abu Ghraib fatigue in the U.S. for a while now. Will this story even reach America?

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