Investigation of Iraqi prisons results in charging of 43 police officers

BAGHDAD — Iraq's interior minister said Tuesday that more than 40 police officers face charges after an investigation into prison abuse found inmates incarcerated without warrants and others with their rights violated.

Jawad al-Bolani's announcement came as the government tried to contain a scandal over charges of widespread torture in Iraqi prisons, which is threatening to become a major issue ahead of Jan. 30 national elections.

He spoke during a tour of one of the most notorious prisons in eastern Baghdad, where prisoners were packed by the dozens into small cells with clothes hung on the wall to dry and pillows on the floor.

Politicians loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr — whose followers were rounded up in droves last year as part of a crackdown against militia fighters — kept up their pressure on the government over prison conditions.

Sadrist lawmaker Ali al-Miyali told reporters Tuesday that torture has been used to extract confessions in a prison in the southern city of Diwaniyah and other facilities.

He also alleged that inmates have been detained on false accusations from politically motivated informants and some families have been forced to bribe "corrupt police officers" for the release of their relatives or even for visitation rights.

"We demand that the government punish those officers and eliminate them from the security services," he said.

More than 300 detainees from al-Sadr's movement began a hunger strike this weekend at the Rusafa prison in eastern Baghdad, hoping to draw attention to their plight, according to family members and aides to the cleric.

The issue took on added prominence last week when a Sunni lawmaker who was an outspoken advocate of rights for prisoners from both Islamic sects was killed after delivering a sermon at a Baghdad mosque.

Harith al-Obeidi, the head of the Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front, was slain Friday after delivering a sermon that raised the complaints of prisoner abuse. He also was involved in a parliamentary debate on the issue.

The interior minister said a special committee had looked into 112 complaints following a June 11 parliamentary session on the issue, al-Bolani said.

The committee found 23 cases of human rights abuses and 20 cases of inmates incarcerated without warrants, leading to court action against 43 police officers, he said, adding that dozens of others were being questioned for allegations that have surfaced recently in the media.