Iraq abuse out cried as Italy faces withdrawal calls

By: Nabil Raza

LONDON/ ROME: AS US lawmakers pressed for the release of more classified pictures of brutal detainee abuse, angry protests against the abuses carried out by American soldiers continued Tuesday across the world, and every day tearful Iraqi Muslim women as well as men gather outside the US-run Abu Gharib jail, west of Baghdad, to protest against the mistreatment of prisoners.

Iraqis demand the release of detainees held at all US-run jails as well as Abu Gharib prison.

Indonesian Muslim youths organized a protest outside the US embassy in Jakarta calling for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. They protestors were holding newspapers with pictures showing the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners.

Similar protests were also held in Britain, Turkey and Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, one of the staunchest US allies in Iraq, faced pressure Tuesday to bring Italian troops home in protest at the prisoner torture scandal rocking the occupation forces.

The moderate left-wing opposition called for the immediate return of the soldiers, a day after Berlusconi himself expressed revulsion at the abuse of Iraqi prisoners in British and US detention centers.

In another development, Amnesty International accused British soldiers in Iraq on Tuesday of killing civilians, including an eight-year-old girl and a wedding guest, when they posed no apparent threat.

In a report released amid a storm of allegations about the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners by American and British forces, Amnesty said the British troops' actions had breached international human rights standards.

British government “has failed to conduct investigations into all killings of civilians, and the investigations that have been carried out have failed to ensure that justice was done and seen to be done in the eyes of the victims' families.”

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