HRW said the abuse of detainees is "an established part of the interrogation process

ATHENS, December 24 (IslamOnline.net) – Greek officers abused Afghan immigrants using the Abu Ghraib" torturing tactics, raising fears the acts of US occupation forces in the infamous Iraqi prison has inspired similar violations in other parts of the world.

The Independent reported on Friday, December 24, that up to 30 Afghan immigrant men were subject to brutal beatings, mock executions and being photographed while naked by four Greek police officers during interrogations.

Amnesty International reacted swiftly, saying it is appalled at the abuse that occurred in the holding cells during interrogations on the escape of an Afghan detainee from custody during a routine verification of his residence permit.

The torture - including severe beatings and death threats – took place over several days, the London-based group said in a report on Thursday, December 23.

Sexual Abuse

Doctors from Athens' Rehabilitation Center for Torture Victims who examined the abused men said they had received serious bruising and that one of the abused was suffering from concussion.

"From the clinical examination there is no doubt the beatings amount to torture," Maria Piniou-Kalli, the medical director was quoted by the Independent as saying.

"They had bruises on their arms and legs. The beating was carried out with a blunt instrument. This action constitutes torture. Torture is every practice that causes severe pain and which is done intentionally for a specific reason and is authorized by the authorities."

Piniou-Kalli described the ordeal of one of the men.

"As two officers were beating the man, a police baton was forced in his mouth, adding a sexual element to the assault. When he fell on the floor two of the officers spread his legs while an other took pictures, with his mobile phone - probably inspired by interrogations of prisoners in Iraq."

"When the abused man signalled he needed water, one of the policemen opened his mouth and spat in it."

More Incidents

Amnesty International gave more accounts of abuse at the hands of Greek police officers, known for their notoriety as cited earlier reports of the human rights watchdog.

On 13 December 2004, Greek civilian policemen reportedly visited a house in the Agios Panteleimonas area of Athens, where between 40 and 60 Afghan asylum-seekers and refugees were lodging.

The police wanted information about an Afghan national who had escaped from court where he had been taken on charges of staying illegally in the country.

According to reports, the police collected all those present in the house, including minors, in one room and allegedly beat them severely torturing some of them.

The same sequence of events was repeated in the following days, according to the Amnesty International report.

Police officers took a 17-year-old boy to the police station and reportedly tortured him there. He said that they undressed him, forced him on the ground, spread his legs and put a gun to his temple threatening to kill him.

A policeman reportedly took a photograph on his mobile phone.

Amnesty International lamented that around 60 Afghans were reportedly beaten, but only 30 of them dared to complain. At least 17 of them were aged 15 to 17.

It said in one of the reported cases there were scratches from the barrel of a gun on the throat of one of the Afghan asylum-seekers.

An inquiry into the abuses was launched by the Greek authorities.

The Greek Public Order Minister, George Voulgarakis, promised that "the guilty parties would be found and punished".

Condemnation

However, Marianna Tzeferakou, an official of Amnesty International in Greece, vehemently condemned the acts.

"We condemn such ill-treatment in the strongest possible terms. These incidents are even more abhorrent when perpetrated against the most vulnerable groups in society - children and people who have come to seek refuge from persecution.

Ironically, acts of torture and abuse of detainees were reported in Afghanistan, where many refugees were forced to leave to avoid the scars of incessant violence.

The New York Times carried a testimony of a former Afghan police colonel accused the US forces of torturing and sexually abusing him while in several US-run detention centers across Afghanistan.

Sayed Nabi Siddiqui, 47, told the American paper on Wednesday, May 12, that more than once U.S. soldiers inserted their fingers into his anus.

In June, the Human Rights Watch (HRW ) issued a report entitled "The Road To Abu Ghraib" linking the abuse of detainees in Iraq , Afghanistan and Guantanamo to the policies adopted by US President George W. Bush in his so-called war on terror.

Amnesty International published a report in April, hitting out at the U.S. violations  of the rights of prisoners held by the US army in Cuba and Afghanistan.

The violations have raised fears that many more acts of abuse could be committed across the world with impunity after the US violations.