Images Show Pleading Iraq Prisoners

[kpete]

VIDEO: http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=49750&cl=3752880&ch=283293&src=news

Images show pleading Iraq prisoners By Waleed Ibrahim and Peter Graff
Sat Aug 18, 3:17 PM ET



BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Rare footage from inside a Baghdad prison camp shows hundreds of inmates packed into wire-mesh tents, protesting their innocence.

"I have been jailed for two years and have never been put before a judge or court!" one prisoner is shown shouting.

The video pictures were given to Reuters Television on Saturday by the office of Sunni Arab Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, who visited the Rusafa prison compound in eastern Baghdad with his Shi'ite counterpart.

Hashemi told the prisoners that the authorities were working to speed up their cases and he promised better treatment.

The footage showed row upon row of outdoor tents made of wire mesh and covered with white plastic sheeting, each about the size of a basketball court and housing dozens of inmates.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070818/ts_nm/iraq_prison_dc_1