From: Jei (jei@cc.hut.fi)
Date: Thu May 06 2004 - 12:37:22 MDT
Guide: How to Treat Elderly Women - by US Troops
// Jei
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6149.htm
U.S. Troops Mistreat Elder Iraqi woman
By SUE LEEMAN, Associated Press Writer
Wed May 5, 2004: LONDON - U.S. soldiers who detained an elderly Iraqi
woman last year placed a harness on her, made her crawl on all fours and
rode her like a donkey, Prime Minister Tony Blair 's personal human rights
envoy to Iraq said Wednesday.
The envoy, legislator Ann Clwyd, said she had investigated the claims of
the woman in her 70s and believed they were true.
During five visits to Iraq in the last 18 months, Clwyd said, she stopped
at British and U.S. jails, including Abu Ghraib, and questioned everyone
she could about the woman's claims. But she did not say whether the people
questioned included U.S. forces or commanders.
Asked for details, Clwyd said during a telephone interview with The
Associated Press that she "didn't want to harp on the case because as far
as I'm concerned it's been resolved."
Clwyd, 67, is a veteran politician of the governing Labour Party and a
strong Blair supporter who regularly visits Iraq and reports back on
issues such as human rights, the delivery of food and medical supplies to
Iraqis, and Iraq's Kurdish minority. Her job as Blair's human rights envoy
is unpaid and advisory.
Clwyd said the Iraqi woman was arrested in Iraq in July and accused of
having links to a former member of Saddam Hussein's regime a charge she
denied.
The abuse occurred last year in Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison and at another
coalition detention center, Clwyd said.
"She was held for about six weeks without charge," the envoy told
Wednesday's Evening Standard newspaper. "During that time she was insulted
and told she was a donkey. A harness was put on her, and an American rode
on her back."
Clwyd said the woman has recovered physically but remains traumatized.
"I am satisfied the case has now been resolved satisfactorily," the envoy
told British Broadcasting Corp. radio Wednesday. "She got a visit last
week from the authorities, and she is about to have her papers and jewelry
returned to her."
Clwyd said she had been told about the case because the woman has
relatives in Britain.
Clwyd, who said the woman did not want to be named, did not identify the
American military unit involved.
Blair's office said Wednesday the envoy had not delivered her report to
the prime minister yet so, therefore, it could not immediately confirm her
reported findings.
© 2004 AP
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