The Guardian
The US is pressing for the sacking of Bayan Jabr, Iraq's Shia interior minister, whose staff have been discovered to be torturing Sunni prisoners. With a strong Sunni role in Iraq's next government apparently secure after their high turnout in Thursday's election, US officials want to ensure that cabinet posts are no longer exploited for sectarian or partisan ends. Sunnis have long complained that the interior ministry is one of the worst offenders.
Inspections of two detention centres on the eve of this week's poll found around 800 inmates, many of them teenagers, living in cramped conditions under interior ministry guard. Dozens had to be sent to hospital for injuries administered by guards.
Since the first torture centre was revealed the US ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, has taken steps to prevent further abuse. US officers are being "embedded" with interior ministry forces, commandos and police when they raid houses. Along with officials from Iraq's human rights ministry, they are also making surprise inspections of prisons and detention centres.........
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