Iraqi MP to UN: Investigate Iraq's Secret Prisons

Posted by , Middle East Online at 9:05 AM on October 31, 2008.

An Iraqi parliamentarian on Thursday called on the United Nations to investigate what he said were over 400 secret detention centers in the country controlled by both the government and U.S.-led foreign forces.

Mohammad Al-Dainy told a news conference in Geneva there were at least 420 such places, some of them underground.

"These centers of detention are completely illegal. Nobody can visit them. Conditions there are much worse than in official prisons," he said.

Al-Dainy said he met officials from the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross and non-governmental organizations during his visit.

The ICRC said it has not yet reached an agreement with the Iraqi government on visiting prisons under their control.

"We only have access to three sites under the control of the Iraqi authorities," spokeswoman Dorothea Krimitsas said.

Tagged as: iraq, us military, secret prisons, iraqi prisons, mohammad al-dainy