A year ago on April 28 the world woke up to photographs of Iraqi detainees suffering physical and mental torture at the hands of the US military in Abu Ghraib prison.

The Abu Ghraib photographs, whilst shocking, were not entirely surprising. For two years Amnesty International (AI) had been raising allegations of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment by US forces in the "war on terror" in a wide range of locations, including Afghanistan, Guantnamo Bay and Iraq. The response by the US administration to the allegations had been inadequate.

On 19th May 2004, AI called on the USA to set up a full, independent, commission of inquiry into all aspects of the USA's "war on terror" detention and interrogation policies and practices.

Today, the organization reiterates its call for an inquiry to be set up by the US Congress. The US must also allow independent human rights monitors, including UN experts, access to detention centres.

Evidence of torture and other ill-treatment by US forces in the "war on terror" continues to mount, but no US agents have been charged with war crimes or torture. Over 70 percent of official actions have resulted in non-judicial or administrative punishments.

Crimes awaiting justice

A small number of soldiers involved in mainly high-profile abuses, including some of those depicted in the Abu Ghraib photographs, have been subjected to court-martial.

Members of the administration (who have claimed that the USA treats all detainees humanely and that any abuses have been the actions of a few aberrant soldiers) have remained free of independent investigation despite possible criminal responsibility for the abuses.

In Iraq, the torture and abuse of detainees was not confined to Abu Ghraib and has been reported in other US-controlled detention centres. These include Camp Bucca, the largest detention facility in southern Iraq which today hosts about 6,000 detainees, and a detention facility at Mosul Airport.

AI continues to receive reports of ill-treatment of Iraqis during house raids and arrests by US and Iraqi security forces.

Signs of torture

The Iraqi authorities have also failed to prevent torture. Reports received in the last year by AI have involved the regular and systematic use of torture by the Iraqi police in police stations and within the Interior Ministry in Baghdad.

In February 2005, three members of the Badr Organization, an armed Shi'a political group, died in Iraqi custody; their bodies showing marks of severe beatings and electric shocks. This event sparked outrage and anger among the Shi'a population and political leaders. It forced the Iraqi government to acknowledge that torture was used and to order an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the three men.

In another development, a national television channel, Al-Iraqiya, has been broadcasting "confessions" by alleged "terrorists". AI is particularly concerned about such "confessions" as detainees are invariably held incommunicado. People who have watched the shows say the detainees show signs of torture, including bruises and swollen faces.

Hardly any Iraqi official has been prosecuted for serious abuses of detainees. AI calls on the Iraqi authorities to investigate all allegations of torture and ensure that detainees are protected from torture.

Josef Roy Benedict is the acting director of Malaysian chapter of the Amnesty International.