NEW YORK: Iraq should investigate reports that its forces systematically tortured and abused detainees, Human Rights Watch said Saturday after documents released by Wikileaks detailed abuse by Iraqi captors.
"Iraq should prosecute those responsible for torture and other crimes, Human Rights Watch said in a statement.
And "the US government should also investigate whether its forces breached international law by transferring thousands of Iraqi detainees from US to Iraqi custody despite the clear risk of torture," the rights ombudsman added.
In London, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange defended the unauthorized release of 400,000 classified US military documents on the war in Iraq, saying they revealed the "truth" about the conflict.
The mass of documents from 2004 to 2009 offer a grim snapshot of the conflict, especially of the abuse of Iraqi civilians by Iraqi security forces.
"These new disclosures show torture at the hands of Iraqi security forces is rampant and goes completely unpunished," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.
"It’s clear that US authorities knew of systematic abuse by Iraqi troops, but they handed thousands of detainees over anyway."
WikiLeaks made the files available several weeks ago to selected newspapers and television channels, including Al-Jazeera, Le Monde, The New York Times, Der Spiegel and The Guardian. The files were published online Friday.
British newspaper The Guardian said the leaks showed "US authorities failed to investigate hundreds of reports of abuse, torture, rape and even murder by Iraqi police and soldiers whose conduct appears to be systematic and normally unpunished."
The documents also describe Iran arming and training Iraqi hit squads to carry out attacks on coalition troops and Iraqi government officials, with the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps suspected of playing a crucial role, The New York Times and The Guardian reported.
