FIEND AND TRAITOR.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 189, 11 August 1919, Page 5

FIEND AND TRAITOR.

HORRIBLE REVELATIONS. KUT PRISONERS MALTREATED. LONDON, August. 10. Horrible revelations were made nt the court-martial on Fratel, a Eurasian medical officer, who was charged with gross inhumanity towards, and neglect of Britisli prisoners from Kut el Amara, who were under his rhnrge at a Turkish hospital at Bagtsche Camp. . Nineteen separate charges of cruelty were formulated by numerous ofliccrs and mcii who were imprisoned at Bagtsche Camp. Evidence was given that Fratel was lying in his bunk smoking and reading, when men were dying of cholera wholesale owing to lack of attention and medicine. They begged Fratel to help them, but he refused, though he was assistant surgeon at the camp. Some witnesses gave evidence that they saw men kicked out of the hospital by orderlies in Fratel's presence. Fratel did not protest. lie even threatened to flog the British with a rawhide thong, with which prisoners were beaten on the back or soles of their feet. There were no medical supplies on the trains carrying the prisoners, and no food or water for the sick, though others were given a loaf of bread. Of 40 sick prisoners who were bundled out of one train, 20 died. The sick prisoners in hospital underwent shocking sufferings. They were never washed, and were thrust into tents to die. When they were dead, their bodies were flung into a so-called "dead-house" near by, which was filled with rubbish. Sometimes a dozen corpses were there. The bodies of British soldiers were flung in anyhow, some naked, some iv knickers. (A. and N.Z. Cable.)