Posted on 11/18/2005 11:50:19 AM PST by proud_yank
The UN's high commissioner for human rights has called for an international investigation into the condition of detainees in Iraq.
Louise Arbour, a former judge on the Supreme Court, issued the call on Friday. She cited a report on Tuesday indicating that more than 170 prisoners had been found in a prison in Baghdad, where they had been starved and tortured.
The discovery of the detainees "pointed to widespread problems with the system of detention in the country," her spokesperson José Luis Díaz said in a statement.
Arbour did not suggest who should head the probe or how it should proceed, he said.
She said the large number of detainees is a problem, and so are the lengthy internments for security reasons without a judge assessing the situation.
Arbour said there are reports from Mosul and other cities claiming that people are being held in prison even though judges have ordered their release.
She criticized the UN human rights commission in the spring for targeting only four countries – Cuba, Myanmar, North Korea and Belarus – for closer scrutiny of human rights abuses.
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Background on Louise Arbour:
Supreme Court Justice Louise Arbour is best known as a chief prosecutor for tribunals into the genocide in Rwanda and human rights abuses in Yugoslavia in the 1990s. She earned an international reputation for courage and tenacity and gained the respect of United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, as well as human rights groups around the world.
She has been a member of the Supreme Court of Canada since 1999.
In February 2004, Arbour announced she would leave the Supreme Court in June to become the new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. She will replace Sergio Vieira de Mello, killed in the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad on Aug. 19, 2003.
Is this alleged 'starving' the result of them choosing not to eat??
The UN is certainly an expert on Human Rights! Lock up your daughters.
Amen to that!
Has Louise Arbour started her investigation of N. Korea yet?? I just read this morning that they were running Christians over with steamrollers so they could hear their heads pop.
I guess they havent started investigations in Zimbabwe yet either.
What is with these sons of beaches picking and choosing who they will investigate by whether or not they can hurt the USA.
Try finding it in the search engine. I am not too good at it, I read it here on Free Republic.
US Military DISCOVERED the "abused" detainees
snip:
A major explosion shook central Baghdad Friday morning near an interior ministry building where U.S. troops found detainees showing signs of torture, witnesses said. There was no immediate information about casualties.
Earlier this week U.S. troops found up to 173 malnourished detainees, some showing signs of torture, in the building. Most were believed to be Sunni Arabs, the main group in the insurgency.
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