Report: Thousands of new 'detainees' straining jails

Left: Iraqi Army soldiers check the I.D. papers of 'detainees' before their transport to a detention center in April. Under 'emergency powers' Iraqis can be held upon suspicion, without charges or trial, and 'detained' indefinitely.

BAGHDAD -- The capture of thousands of new suspects under the three-month-old Baghdad security plan has overwhelmed the Iraqi government's detention system, forcing hundreds of people into overcrowded facilities, according to Iraqi and Western officials.

Nearly 20,000 people were in Iraqi-run prisons, detention camps, police stations and other holding cells as of the end of March, according to a U.N. report issued last month, an increase of more than 3,500 from the end of January. The U.S. military said late last week that it was holding about 19,500 detainees, up more than 3,000 since the U.S. and Iraqi governments began implementing the security plan in mid-February.

Estimates of those inside Iraqi facilities, where reports of beatings and torture are common, vary widely because detainees are dispersed among hundreds of locations run by different ministries.

Read the rest at the Washington Post

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