JURIST - Paper Chase: Iraqi officials to investigate allegations of torture by security forces

[JURIST] Iraq’s government announced plans on Tuesday to investigate allegations that Iraqi security forces abused more than 170 prisoners held in central Baghdad, who were found malnourished and showing evidence of torture. Prompted by the repeated pleadings of a missing teenager's parents, US troops discovered the detainees [AP report], most of them Sunnis, during a raid of an interior ministry building on Sunday. Maj. Gen. Hussein Kamal, the Iraqi Interior Ministry's undersecretary for security, has said that anyone found abusing detainees will be punished. Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] confirmed Tuesday that the prisoners have been moved and provided with medical care and that the investigation into the building, which may have been used as a base for the Shiite-led Badr Brigade [Wikipedia backgrounder] militia, has been launched. Amnesty International [advocacy website] applauded the investigation into the abuse at the building, but suggested that it should expand to other allegations of torture by Iraqi police and interior ministry security forces. The announcement raises more questions about US troops, who trained the Iraqi security forces and already face allegations of abuse [JURIST report] at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] and other US military prisons. BBC News has more.

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