US Left 30K Iraqi Detainees to Be Tortured

The US is turning a blind eye to the systematic abuse of detainees in Iraq's prisons, a report by Amnesty International claims. The transfer of prisoners from US-run detention centers to Iraqi facilities is a less-discussed aspect of the American pullout, but has flooded a system that remains rife with the abuses of Saddam Hussein's time with new inmates, the Christian Science Monitor reports.

Iraq is holding 30,000 untried detainees, some of whom have been waiting years for a trial or even just the former declaration of charges. "Because of government complicity, tolerance or inaction in relation to such abuses, a culture of impunity prevails," Amnesty's report says. "US forces, by transferring individuals to Iraqi detention facilities where they are clearly at risk of torture and other ill-treatment, may be complicit in these abuses and have breached their international obligations towards the prisoners." Click here for more on Iraq.