Rights group: Pentagon to release new prisoner abuse photos

WASHINGTON, April 24 (Xinhua) — The Pentagon will release “a substantial number” of new photos that show abuse of prisoners at U.S.-run prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan, a civil rights group said Friday.

    The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said in a statement that the release, expected on May 28, will be in response to an open-records lawsuit filed by the group.

    The photos to be released were taken at facilities other than the infamous Abu Ghraib prison of Iraq.

    ”These photographs provide visual proof that prisoner abuse by U.S. personnel was not aberrational but widespread, reaching far beyond the walls of Abu Ghraib,” said Amrit Singh, an ACLU attorney. The photos are to be released by May 28, the ACLU said.

    The Pentagon has confirmed that it would release the photos.

    The lawsuit was filed in 2004 after the former Bush administration denied a 2003 open-records request by the ACLU.

    The 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled last year that the photos should be released.

    The Pentagon said it will not appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court and will release the photos.

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