Iraq still denying Red Cross access to prisoners

Above: 'God help me' scrawled in Arabic on a prison door. Left: A picture of unknown origin alleging torture inside an Iraqi jail. At the beginning of the year, the British raided two detention centers in southern Iraq which revealed torture actitivies. Prime Minister Maliki angrily denounced the raids as violations of Iraq's sovereignty.

The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Thursday he was not optimistic about a breakthrough in talks with Iraqi officials to gain access to up to 20,000 people held in Iraqi-run prisons.

The neutral humanitarian agency is already visiting some 17,500 people in Iraq who are detained either by American, Kurdish or British authorities, ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger said.

The ICRC announced six months ago that it was close to an agreement with Iraqi authorities to allow its officials to visit inmates at Iraqi detention centres, where Sunnis have alleged inmates are tortured, but talks have dragged on...

Asked about the impasse, he replied: "I don't think that I am expressing extreme optimism."

Read the rest at Reuters/Alternet

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