Saturday, December 02, 2006


Denmark Accused Of handing Over Afghan Prisoners To US
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Courtesy Of: The International News
Saturday, December 02, 2006,
Zeeqad 10, 1427 A.H.

COPENHAGEN: Danish opposition parties on Friday accused their country’s defence ministry of handing over prisoners in Afghanistan to United States forces who allegedly later abused them.

“The army took prisoners and handed them over to the Americans. Already at this point the Americans had been accused of treating prisoners badly,” the opposition Unity Party said in a statement.

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen promised an investigation into the allegations. The Scandinavian country has some 290 troops deployed in the province of Helmand in the south of Afghanistan under British command as part of ISAF (the International Security Assistance Force).

The incidents are alleged to have taken place in 2002. The accusations stem from a Danish documentary “Secret War” due to be aired next week.

According to the film Danish soldiers captured a group of 31 Afghans in March 2002 and handed them over to United States forces.

Five of the group were abused by US forces, Danish news agency Ritzau said.

Rasmussen said on Friday that the allegations must be investigated.

“It is in the government’s own interest that an investigation is launched, because it does not benefit us that such allegations and accusations are made,” Rasmussen said after attending a meeting of the foreign affairs parliamentary committee.

Danish Defence Minister Soeren Gade told the committee in a written statement that when he had asked the Pentagon about the accusations, it said it had no information on any “allegation of maltreatment of these prisoners”, Ritzau reported.

Source:
http://thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=34099

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