Probe into Detention Camp Deaths

Iraq and the United States have launched a joint investigation into whether US soldiers acted inappropriately in a case involving the death of four detainees during a prison riot in southern Iraq.

The four Iraqis died when US troops opened fire during a January 31 riot at Camp Bucca, close to the Kuwaiti border. The remote desert facility is the US army’s main detention centre in Iraq, housing some 5,000 prisoners.

Iraqi human rights minister Bakhtiar Amin has sent a team of Iraqi investigators, including a doctor, to the Camp Bucca prison. The US military is also investigating the incident, in consultation with the ministry.

“If it is proven that those American soldiers are guilty, they will be tried by an American military court,” said Amin.

The riot began after a routine search for contraband in one of the camp compounds. According to a US military statement, the detainees threw rocks and used hand-made weapons during the riot, which lasted 45 minutes. The violence then spread to three other compounds.

When detainees failed to respond to verbal warnings, the troops opened fire, killing four inmates and wounding six.

Amin said the injured prisoners are recovering and his ministry is sending financial aid to their families.

A statement from a group calling itself “al-Qaeda in Iraq”, thought to be led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, vowed to “settle the score” for the shootings.

"What was the fault of defenceless prisoners... that you should treat them like this?" said a statement purporting to be from the group, posted on the internet. "Tyrants of the age, we will not let these crimes of yours pass.”

US commanders have held up Camp Bucca as a model facility, in contrast to the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad which was at the centre of a prison abuse scandal last year.

But Lamia Muhammed, a spokesperson for the Iraq Red Crescent Society in Basra, said poor living conditions at Camp Bucca may have led to the protest. She said her organisation has heard complaints from some of the prisoners, including reports of mistreatment by US soldiers, but added that the Red Crescent has been unable to verify the reports.

"The prison administrators prevent us from entering the prison to learn the facts, under the pretext that we are Iraqis and we won't be impartial in our assessment," she said.

Ghassan Muhammed, a resident of the mainly Sunni town of al-Zubayr, said he is worried about his two nephews who are being held at the detention centre.

"Yesterday I tried to visit them, but the prison administration told me that visits have stopped until further notice because of the acts of violence which recently took place," he said.

Muhammed said he’s heard that an Iraqi detainee with British nationality may have sparked the riot. His nephews told him that the man has been on hunger strike for two weeks in protest at his detention and the conditions at the prison.

"The multinational forces consider all members of the Sunni faith to be terrorists, and arrest them without real reasons," he said.

Safaal Mansoor is an IWPR trainee journalist in Iraq. Zaineb Naji in Baghdad contributed to this report.