Iraqi Legislature demands investigation about existence of secret prisons in Iraq

  KARBALA / IraqiNews.com: The Legislature of Iraq’s National Coalition, Jawad al-Hasnawi, has demanded on Saturday the opening of an investigation about the presence of ‘secret prisons’ in Iraq , calling on the Justice Ministry to observe all prisons, including those that are under the military bodies.   “We are hearing a lot about the presence of ‘secret prisons’ in Iraq , but we don’t know whether such reports are simple media reports or political claims by some parties.. So, we have to investigate the presence of such prisons, the same way that uncovered ‘al-Sharaf prison,’ that was the only prison that was made public till now,” Hasnawi told IraqiNews.com news agency.   The Chairman of the Iraqi Parliament’s Human Rights Committee, Salim al-Jibouri, had announced on 14/3/2011 the closure of ‘al-Sharaf prison’ in Baghdad ’s fortified Green Zone, through agreement with the Justice Ministry, due to the presence of violations in that presence.   “We have a draft-law for a general amnesty for prisoners and detainees, for which we had gathered a large number of support by the Parliament members,” Hasnawi said, adding that “the draft-law covers a general amnesty for all innocent detainees, whether they were in open or secret prisons, in all Iraqi provinces, with the exception of Kurdistan, which has its special laws,” Hasnawi said.   He said that the draft-law “provides the responsibility by the Justice Ministry on all prisons in Iraq , including those that are under the command of military units, because we want that there would be one authority on all prisons.”   The Human Rights Watch had issued a statement recently, saying that the Iraqi government “does not take measures to account officials, who are behind torture in Iraqi prisons, thing that leads to the repetition of such practices.”   SKH (RT)     787