UN: 37,641 held in U.S. and Iraqi prisons; 3,000 since 'crackdown', many without warrant, charges or trial

Camp Bucca is one of two U.S. 'detention' centers, and by far the largest with about 15,000 detainees. The smaller one is Camp Cropper, near the Baghdad airport. According to the report US-led coalition forces holds 17,898 'detainees', the Iraqi ministry of justice holds 9,965, the ministry of interior holds 5,573, the ministry of defence holds 1,525, the ministry of labour and social affairs holds 502, and Kurdish authorities hold 2,178.

Baghdad - At least 37,641 people were being held in US and Iraqi run prisons across the country as of the end of March, said the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), in its latest report released on Wednesday.

Citing figures from the ministry of human rights, UNAMI said that of these about 3 000 have been detained since the Baghdad security crackdown began on February 14 in a bid to quell daily bloodshed in the Iraqi capital...

Expressing concern about the detainees' human rights, the report said the plan's new emergency regulations contained no explicit measures guaranteeing due process rights to the detainees.

"Rather, they authorised arrests without warrants and the interrogation of suspects without placing a time limit on how long they could be held in pre-trial detention," the report said.

UNAMI also criticised US-led coalition forces for their practice of "indefinite internment of detainees", thousands of whom have been held for long periods without charge or trial.

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