March 11, 2008

GENEVA (AFP) — The top United Nations expert on torture on Tuesday chided Washington for refusing to grant him access to prisoners held by US troops in Iraq while stating that he hoped to visit Baghdad this year.

"I'm a little bit astonished that the US government is not willing to grant me access", UN special rapporteur on torture Manfred Nowak told reporters.

The US refusal is in contrast to the Iraqi authorities and British troops who still have a small presence in the south of the country around Basra, Nowak said.

Washington maintains that Iraq is an armed conflict situation where human rights law is not applicable, a view hotly disputed by the UN expert.

"Human rights apply both in times of peace and armed conflict," he said.

The US came under worldwide criticism after leaked photos showed soldiers abusing prisoners at the Abu Ghraib detention facility in Baghdad in 2003.

Photos showed naked and hooded prisoners beaten bloody and being made to commit humiliating acts such simulating homosexual sex. Soldiers posed proudly with battered corpses and nude, injured prisoners.

Since then, Nowak said he had received credible reports from Iraq that conditions in US-run facilities had improved, and that detainees preferred to stay there than be transferred to Iraqi-run prisons.

"The situation improved in reaction to the criticism of the Abu Ghraib events," he said.

"The president commander, General Stone, seems to have a fairly liberal attitude and takes the treatment of detainees more seriously than his predecessors," he said.

However, he stressed he needed to see things for himself and not rely on second-hand accounts.

"If I go to Iraq it should be a long mission, to cover the situation in as comprehensive a manner as possible," he said.

This must include unrestricted access to all state-run detention facilities and he should be able to make unannounced visits, armed with letters of authorisation by the Iraqi authorities to oblige police and other personnel.

Nowak was speaking after addressing the UN Human Rights Council meeting here in Geneva.