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Scotsman.com News - Latest News - Elderly Woman 'Ridden Like A Donkey' by US Troops

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. [...] 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.”

U.S. Army report on Iraqi prisoner abuse (MSNBC): The following is the text of the Taguba report with only the names of some witnesses removed for the sake of privacy. The report was prepared by Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba on alleged abuse of prisoners by members of the 800th Military Police Brigade at the Abu Ghraib Prison in Baghdad. It was ordered by Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of Joint Task Force-7, the senior U.S. military official in Iraq, following persistent allegations of human rights abuses at the prison.

Editor’s note: The report includes graphic descriptions of events some readers may find objectionable.