Wikileaks reports won’t undermine Maliki’s chances to form new govt.

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: A leader in the Iraqi Ahrar (Liberals) bloc said on Saturday that the so-called Wikileaks reports that spoke about the Iraqi government’s involvement in torture operations in prisons “won’t undermine the chances of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to gain a second term in office,” pointing out that torture still exists in those prisons. “The publication of those documents and their timing that took place with the current talks to form the new government won’t undermine the formation of the government, because this issue is not new in Iraq, as the mass media had published such incidents in the past,” Baha’a al-A’araji told IraqiNews.com news agency. He added that “the publication of those documents would not undermine the chances of Maliki to renew his prime minister’s post for a second term.” Aljazeera TV Channel had published on Friday a report from Wikileaks electronic position, saying that “the Iraqi government had been involved in torture operations against Iraqi prisoners, whilst the U.S. troops had covered such operations.” “The prisoners cited in those documents are Iraqis, and such measures have undermined human rights..We had repeatedly announced that some security offices do not possess the right of investigation and detentions, but they insisted to carry them out,” he said. He added that the said offices had “carried out several torture acts against detainees in Iraqi prisoners..And we have photos proving that, whilst we had sent such photos to the current Prime Minister (Maliki) to see them, being in charge of those who carry out such acts.” “Such acts have been curtailed a bit over the past period, but they are still being practiced in some prisons, where a lot of detainees don’t have investigation papers, despite fact that the Iraqi Constitution had banned such acts,” A’araji concluded. SKH (P)/AmR 2