Baghdad, September 12: A prisoner was killed and 40 wounded in disturbances in the prison west of Baghdad formerly known as Abu Ghraib, media reports said Friday.
Prisoners set fire to the central prison in Baghdad during the riots that began Thursday night, the Aswat al-Iraq news agency reported, adding that violence was triggered by a search for mobile phones.
“The jail authorities started taking security measures and put the fire out,” said a media official in the Ministry of Justice, quoted by the agency as saying.
The Iraqi legislator Zeinab Al-Kanani told reporters that the prisoners began rioting after security forces abused prisoners.
Al-Kanani said that one member of the security of the prison was in sight of detainees and damaged a copy of the Muslim holy book the Koran and broke the image of one of the main religious clerics in Iraq.
Abu Ghraib became infamous worldwide after photos were distributed showing detainees being abused by U.S. forces in 2004. The jail was captured by Iraqi officials and was reopened earlier this year under its new name.
–Agencies