'P.o.w.s in M.E. ill-treated'

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33815, 11 April 1975, Page 9

'P.o.w.s in M.E. ill-treated'

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright)

LONDON, April 10

Both Israel and Syria ill-treated their prisoners of war during the Middle East conflict in October, 1973, according to a report issued today by Amnesty International.

The report, by a team of three men who have visited the two countries, says that both sides failed to observe fully the third Geneva Convention on the treatment of war prisoners.

Israeli prisoners Inter-

viewed by the team complained of’systematic torture, such as having the soles of; their feet beaten or electric shocks applied to their; i genitals. The commission found a consistency in the different stories, and some: medical evidence of the beatings. Some of the Syrians alleged that thev suffered beatings and burning with cigarettes, and the commission found evidence of beating, and corroboration of at least one case of burning. The commission's findings were based on a series of interviews with former prisoners in both countries during a two-week study last October, a year after the conflict. Many of the findings 'were inconclusive, largely because of the total lack o f medical documentation by the Syrian authorities and in- ' adequate documentation on the Israeli side. i Prisoners on both sides 'alleged bad conditions of captivity, lack of food or water, savage beatings during transportation, and medi-' cal treatment that was either insufficient or wilfully wrong. Some prisoners complained of leg amputations that were either unnecessary or too extensive.

The commission comprised Mr Asbjom Eide, director of the International Peace Research Institute in Oslo, Mr Peter Nobel, a Swedish lawyer, and Dr Kees van Vuuren, a Rotterdam physician. They say: “The purpose of our report is not to condemn, and seek retribution for, what has happened in the past, but to create awareness of the need to prevent similar abuses from occunng m the future."