| Elderly woman ridden like a donkey { May 6 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2884671http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2884671
Thu 6 May 2004 1:00am (UK) Elderly Woman 'Ridden Like A Donkey' by US Troops
"PA"
US soldiers who detained an elderly Iraqi woman placed a harness on her, made her crawl on all fours and rode her like a donkey, Prime Minister Tony Blair’s personal human rights envoy to Iraq has claimed.
Labour MP Ann Clwyd said she had investigated the claims of the woman in her 70s and believed they were true.
During five visits to Iraq in the last 18 months, Ms Clwyd said, she had stopped at British and US jails, including Abu Ghraib, and questioned everyone she could about the woman’s claims. But she did not say whether that included US forces or commanders.
Asked for details, Ms Clwyd told The Associated Press that she “didn’t want to harp on the case because as far as I’m concerned it’s been resolved”.
Ms Clwyd, 67, is a strong Blair supporter who regularly visits Iraq and reports back on issues such as human rights, the delivery of food and medical supplies to Iraqis, and Iraq’s Kurdish minority. Her job as Blair’s human rights envoy is unpaid and advisory.
Ms Clwyd said the Iraqi woman was arrested in Iraq last July and accused of having links to a former member of Saddam Hussein’s regime, a charge she denied.
The abuse occurred in Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison and at another coalition detention centre, Ms Clwyd said.
“She was held for about six weeks without charge,” the envoy told yesterday’s Evening Standard. “During that time she was insulted and told she was a donkey. A harness was put on her, and an American rode on her back.”
Ms Clwyd said the woman had recovered physically but remained traumatised.
“I am satisfied the case has now been resolved satisfactorily,” the envoy told BBC radio. “She got a visit last week from the authorities, and she is about to have her papers and jewellery returned to her.”
Ms Clwyd said she had been told about the case because the woman had relatives in Britain. Ms Clwyd, who said the woman did not want to be named, did not identify the American military unit involved.
Downing Street said Ms Clwyd had not delivered her report to the Prime Minister yet and that it therefore could not immediately confirm her reported findings.
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