Torture: Calling for a "Transatlantic Inquiry"

MEPs pressing for Wikileaks Iraq torture follow-up at US summit

11 November 2010 - Euro-deputies on Thursday (11 November) called for a "transatlantic inquiry" into Iraqi torture cases described in US war logs published by Wikileaks and pressed EU leaders to follow up on the issue at a meeting with US President Barack Obama next week.

The European Parliament is "highly concerned over the recent serious allegations that torture has been condoned in Iraq" and demands an "independent transatlantic inquiry," a resolution adopted Thursday in the plenary reads. MEPs also call for this issue "to be raised in the context of the EU-US summit," which is set to take place on 20 November in Lisbon.

Last month, Julian Assange's Wikileaks website published some 400,000 classified army documents, disclosing that US helicopters in Iraq had killed insurgents who were trying to surrender and that American troops routinely delivered suspects to their Iraqi allies, knowing that they would be submitted to torture. The massive leak also uncovered 15,000 more civilian deaths than were previously known about.

The issue is so far not on the agenda of the meeting, said a spokesman for EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy, who will represent member states in the two-hour meeting with Mr Obama. European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso will also attend the gathering. {read rest}