Danes protest capital punishment in Iraq

[kskiska]

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) -- In a potential rift, Danish troops in Iraq have stopped handing over prisoners to British commanding forces because the Iraqi government reinstated capital punishment, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

Denmark -- like Britain -- is obliged under the European Convention on Human Rights not to extradite prisoners who could face the death penalty, which is banned in the European Union. But Britain insisted Tuesday that European human rights conventions don't apply in Iraq, and that detainees must be remitted to the Iraqis.

For now, Danish troops, who operate in southern Iraq under British authority, have an informal agreement that prisoners won't be handed over to the Iraqis without Danish consent, Defense Ministry spokesman Jakob Winther said. Until that agreement becomes official, Danes will not hand over suspects they apprehend.

"We wish to know for certain that people in our custody won't be handed over to face the death penalty," Danish Defense Minister Soeren Gade said late Monday in Washington, where he met with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to discuss Denmark's participation in peacekeeping missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

more…
http://salon.com/news/wire/2004/08/10/danes/index.html