US accused of rights abuses

Amnesty International accused US troops yesterday of "very severe" human rights abuses in Iraq and complained that it had been denied access to thousands of prisoners held without charge in "appalling" conditions.

Amnesty spokeswoman Judit Arenas Licea said some Iraqis had been forced to stand under the blistering sun for up to 48 hours in US-run detention centres that lack proper sanitation and that relatives had no information on their plight.

One detainee was shot dead by US troops during a prison riot last month, she told Reuters in an interview in Baghdad.

"We are disappointed that human rights were used as an excuse to go to war in Iraq and now the human rights of Iraqis are being violated," she said, condemning conditions at among other sites Saddam Hussein's once notorious Abu Ghraib prison.

US military officials declined immediate comment. A team from the London-based independent rights watchdog is visiting Iraq to take testimony from those held and released by US forces and to try and speak to some of those still held.

It is also investigating abuses under Saddam, although most of those imprisoned by him are now free. While some Iraqis detained by invading troops have been released, many remain in prisons with no access to a lawyer or families, Licea said.

The US military authorities have repeatedly turned down Amnesty's requests for access to those jails, Licea said.

Some Iraqis are being held by the Americans at the Abu Ghraib complex near Baghdad, one of the most feared prisons under Saddam. Today it is heavily guarded by US troops.

Licea alleged that American soldiers shot and killed detainee Alaa Jassem there on June 13 while trying to contain prisoners rioting against poor conditions.