KUALA TERENGGANU: Malaysia is consulting with other Organisation of Islamic Conference member countries on the need to send protest notes to the United States and Britain over the reported inhumane and brutal treatment of Iraqi prisoners.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said as OIC chairman, Malaysia could not act individually on the matter.
However, he said, Malaysia’s stand on the issue was very clear.
“There is no excuse for what happened. We cannot accept it and there is no justification at all for such inhumane treatment of the Iraqi prisoners.
“The US and Britain must act immediately to stop such treatment. They must identify those responsible and take appropriate action against them,” he said after opening the new Pulau Redang airfield near here yesterday.
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TAKING A BREAK: Abdullah taken on a tour of the Berjaya Resort in Pulau Redang yesterday. Accompanying him areChief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Samsudin Othman (back seat, left) and Berjaya Group Bhd’s chairmanTan Sri Vincent Tan. |
Abdullah said the US and Britain could not just “wash off their guilt” by expressing shock over the issue but they must show their commitment in upholding the human rights of the Iraqi prisoners.
He noted that the US and Britain, as countries that had claimed to be human rights defenders, had previously been very vocal in their condemnation of Third World countries for human rights transgression.
Asked if he felt that the United Nations should step in to investigate the matter, Abdullah said:
“This should not be the concern of the UN alone but many other international bodies that have always been very vocal and strong in their criticism of what they perceived as human rights abuses in developing countries.
“If they fail to condemn the US and British’s soldiers for their brutalities and did not defend the dignity of the Iraqi prisoners, then these organisations will lose their credibility.”
Comment: America facing hard options in Iraq
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