AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

PRESS RELEASE

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AI Index: MDE 14/037/2003 (Public)

News Service No: 065

23 March 2003

Iraq: Amnesty International calls for respect of all prisoners of war

Published

Amnesty International calls on the Iraqi authorities to treat United States (US) prisoners of war in full conformity with the Third Geneva Convention. They should not be subjected to any form of torture or ill-treatment and should be given immediate access to the International Committee of the Red Cross. The same applies to Iraqi prisoners of war.

Amnesty International also calls on all media to ensure in its use of images that the dignity of all prisoners of war, whether Iraqi or US or other, is respected.

According to the Third Geneva Convention, prisoners of war "are entitled in all circumstances to respect for their persons and their honour (Article 14) and "must at all times be protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity" (Article 13). Torture or inhuman treatment of prisoners of war is a grave breach of the Convention (Article 130), Each party to the Convention has an obligation to search for those suspected of having committed such breaches and bring them to justice before its own courts or hand them over for trial to another party (Article 129).

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Between 0800 GMT and 1900 GMT

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Teresa Richardson on + 44 207413 5554 or mobile + 44 7768 182 445 (English)

Kamal Samari on + 44 207413 5831 or mobile + 44 7778 472 126 (English, Arabic and French)

Magda Wendorff-Kowalczuk on + 44 207413 5729 or mobile + 44 7778 472 173 (English, German and Polish)

Public Document

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