Iraq must close its secret detention site, UN says
A United Nations (UN) Human Rights watchdog on Friday urged Iraqi authorities to close secret detention centres where suspects are being “severely tortured”.
The watchdog, composed by a panel of 18 independent experts, said there was a pattern whereby militants and other high-security suspects, including minors, were being arrested without warrants and kept detained in facilities provided by the Iraqi defence and interior ministries or even at a military airport in Baghdad, the country's capital city.
This airport, which was uncovered in 2011, "is still open and continues to secretly operate under the control of the 54th and 56th brigades of the army", the committee said.
The UN Committee against Torture urged the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to "ensure that no one is detained in any secret detention centres, as these facilities are per se a breach of the Convention (against Torture) and should be closed".
Long pre-trial detention periods were, according to the Committee, also a common practice which led to torture, as some detainees were reported to having been held up to 10 years before being taken to court.
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