- BAGHDAD -- The first of 2,500
detainees to be released from the jail at the centre of the abuse scandal
were freed yesterday after the American military admitted that the majority
of them were being held unnecessarily.
-
- Just under 300 inmates left Abu Ghraib prison by bus
shortly after 9.15am, many of them in tears and waving to relatives waiting
at the gates.
-
- They told reporters about prisoners being hung from walls
by their hands for hours and people spending several days in solitary confinement.
-
- Abu Mustafa, 24, said he was arrested 10 months ago by
US forces who accused him of being a leader of a terrorist group. He said
that early in his detention he was hung from a wall by his hands for about
five hours. On another occasion two American soldiers had sex in front
of him while he was in the prison hospital. Another inmate said he saw
wires being attached to the tongue and genitals of his cousin.
-
- Most of the men had been held without charge, some for
more than six months, and had no access to a lawyer. The number of detainees
will be reduced from 4,000 to 1,500.
-
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