Daily Telegraph 22 May 04:
Eight more Iraqi prisoner deaths investigated
The US military is investigating the deaths of eight further prisoners - including a general of Saddam Hussein - as homicides.
To classify the deaths as homicides, the authorities must think they involved suspected assaults on detainees before or during interrogation sessions that may have led to the detainees' deaths.
The US army has investigated the deaths of 32 Iraqi prisoners and another five deaths of prisoners in Afghanistan since August 2002. In total, 10 of them have been categorised as homicides.
Autopsies of prisoners have been released by the Pentagon. Causes of death include strangulation, blunt forces injuries and asphyxia, and multiple gunshot wounds. Others died from natural causes.
Earlier in the month, the Pentagon said that two prisoners had been murdered, one by an US army soldier, who shot a prisoner who was throwing stones at him. Despite being thrown out of the army, he escaped jail.
The Pentagon's decision to investigate the further deaths in custody comes in the wake of the Washington Posts's publication of more pictures that appear to show Iraqi detainees being abused within prison.
The graphic pictures have added to gathering unease about treatment of Iraqi prisoners, in particular those held in the now notorious Abu Ghraib jail.
Earlier in the month at least 20 examples of prisoner mistreatment at Abu Ghraib and other prisons was leaked.
The report, by Maj Gen Antonio Taguba, included serious findings that breached international law standards.