Iraqi govt. hit with claims that man died in detention after torture

A man died in Iraqi army detention after allegedly being beaten, given electric shocks with a cattle prod and burnt with cigarettes in a case that highlights the abuses suffered by detainees at the hands of Iraqi security forces. The fresh allegations undermine claims by Britain and the United States that the new Iraqi Government respects the rule of law and human rights, more than six years after Saddam Hussein was ousted. In addition the US Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into allegations that one of its agents in Baghdad assisted in the beating of an Iraqi suspect, according to a former American adviser to the Iraqi Ministry of Defense. Thomas Cruise, who worked at the ministry's human rights branch, says that the US-led coalition turned a blind eye to other abuses such as the alleged torture and murder two years ago of Adnan Awad Mohammed Thaib al-Jumaili. He raised that case with Ann Clwyd, MP, Gordon Brown's human rights envoy to Iraq, while she was on a visit to Baghdad this year.