Amnesty Accuses U.S. of Rights Abuses in Iraq

[Nambe]

BAGHDAD (Reuters)

Amnesty International accused U.S. troops on Sunday of "very severe" human rights abuses in Iraq and complained that it had been denied access to thousands of prisoners held without charge in "appalling" conditions."

Amnesty spokeswoman Judit Arenas Licea said some Iraqis had been forced to stand under the blistering sun for up to 48 hours in U.S.-run detention centers that lack proper sanitation and that relatives had no information on their plight.

One detainee was shot dead by U.S. troops during a prison riot last month, she told Reuters in an interview in Baghdad.

"We are disappointed that human rights were used as an excuse to go to war in Iraq and now the human rights of Iraqis are being violated," she said, condemning conditions at among other sites Saddam Hussein's once notorious Abu Ghraib prison.

U.S. military officials declined immediate comment. ---

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1. Now that we're down to 23 'embedded' reporters

and the rest are leaving in droves because there is no security...

one can only imagine what's going on.