[Lincoln]

NEW PoW TORTURE CLAIMS ROCK COALITION May 10 2004

By Paul Gilfeather, Whitehall Editor, Anthony Harwood, Us Editor, And Rod Chaytor

COALITION forces were yesterday accused of a catalogue of sex crimes against Iraqi prisoners.

US forces were alleged to have committed wide ranging sex attacks on prisoners. And three British soldiers were said to be facing sex assault charges.

London and Washington were braced for a fierce backlash from the new revelations.

New Yorker magazine published a photo of dogs threatening a naked inmate at Abu Ghraib prison and of the same man with blood streaming from his leg after he was apparently bitten.

The US was expecting the publication of more photos and a video from the notorious jail in Baghdad.

They are thought to show US soldiers raping a woman prisoner.

Troops are also seen beating a detainee to within an inch of his life.

A video is expected to emerge - taken by US soldiers - showing young boys being raped by Iraqi guards.

Photos of soldiers "acting inappropriately with a dead body" also exist. One accused, Sabrina Harman, is said to be posing with a decomposing corpse with her thumbs up. Pentagon sources warned that the abuse of dead bodies - possibly murder victims - is a recurring feature in the sickening material.

It was announced that the unreleased pictures will be handed over to Congress by the Pentagon.

Senator John Warner said lawmakers would be allowed to view them in private.

But Senator Lindsey Graham said the Bush administration needed to make the photos public as soon as possible.

He said: "If there's more to come, let's get it out. For God's sake let's talk about it because men and women's lives are at stake."

Last week Mr Graham warned: "The public need to understand we're talking about rape and murder here."

The administration is prepared for damaging fallout. A worried defence official said: "It is a time bomb."

The expected stream of filth loomed as British troops were also accused of sexually abusing prisoners. Three soldiers of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers are said to face charges of sexual assault, inciting rape and breach of the Geneva Convention after photos showed prisoners being forced to take part in homosexual acts.

The abuses came to light when staff at a photo lab alerted police.

Kelly Tilford, who worked at the Max Spielman photographic shop in Tamworth, Staffs, yesterday described in graphic detail the pictures she saw of Iraqis being sexually abused.

Kelly, 23, was processing a film taken by soldier Gary Bartlam a year ago.

She handed the pictures to police. They passed them to military authorities who launched a probe.

Kelly told the Mirror: "It was a film of about 24 pictures, all taken in Iraq. Most showed general scenes of soldiers holding weapons, posing for the camera. But there were four that really shocked and disgusted me - they were horrible.

"The first showed a prisoner being forced to perform oral sex on a soldier. The prisoner was screwing up his face in disgust. He looked deeply ashamed.

"The second showed two naked Iraqi men with one apparently being forced to rape another.

"The third appears to be taken in some kind of warehouse and showed a naked Iraqi, looking terrified, being dangled in a net from the lifting gear of a forklift truck.

"He was being held about 15ft off the ground and looked absolutely petrified. At the wheel of the forklift was a soldier in uniform and you could clearly see his face. Two British soldiers were watching what was going on and smirking.

"The fourth showed a group of Iraqi men, all naked, sitting on the ground. There were about 10 of them sitting or squashed up together but none of them was on top of another.

"Some of them looked scared, some of them looked ashamed."

Labour MP Alice Mahon said: "This sickening twist to this already horrific tale diminishes us all. The news that Iraqi women and children were raped is a truly horrifying turn for the worse.

"Are we really to believe that these soldiers are the only ones responsible? Was there not a chain of command?

"We need answers from Washington and London about what orders those involved were given."

Confirmation of the new batch of images came from US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last week. During evidence to the Senate he revealed that video and "sadistic, cruel and inhuman" photos were just around the corner.

New Yorker investigative journalist Seymour Hersh claimed yesterday that cameras were part of the interrogation process, with threats made to detainees that pictures of them naked would be shown to friends and neighbours.