Danish army investigators confirm abuse by contingent in Iraq

[Barrett808]

COPENHAGEN (AFP) - Danish soldiers subjected Iraqi prisoners to ill-treatment including forcing them to adopt painful postures and verbal humiliation and refusing them food, water and access to toilets, army investigators confirmed.

The announcement was made by a team of military inspectors after a woman officer, who had been recalled from service with the multinational force in Iraq because of allegedly harsh interrogation methods, denied the accusations against her in the Danish press.

"This case covers four interrogations of Iraqis arrested (at Camp Eden in Basra area) between March and June 2004," the investigators said in a statement.

"They (the prisoners) were forced to take up stressful and painful postures and kept that way by force."

"There is no reason to suspect that the detainees were beaten or brutalised," it continued, "but they were verbally humiliated, for example by being addressed in a way particularly insulting to Muslims."

"During these interrogations, they were to a certain extent also refused food, water and access to toilets."

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