A Pentagon investigation and newly declassified documents confirm detainees' accounts of the use of sexual tactics by female interrogators at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, The Washington Post reported on Thursday. At least eight detainees, in documents or through their lawyers, have accused female interrogators of violating Muslim taboos about sex and contact with women, including rubbing their bodies against the men and touching them provocatively, the newspaper said.
The Pentagon investigation of US detention and interrogation practices world-wide has not been released publicly, the Post said. But a senior Defence Department official familiar with the report was cited as saying it generally confirms the detainees' allegations.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official told the newspaper the investigation confirmed one case in which an Army interrogator wore a tight T-shirt to make a Guantanamo detainee uncomfortable. It also confirmed other cases in which interrogators touched detainees suggestively, the report said.
The newspaper quoted Defence Department officials as saying two female interrogators have been reprimanded for such tactics.
A Pentagon spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
Colonel David McWilliams, a spokesman for the US Southern Command in Miami, which oversees operations at Guantanamo Bay, was quoted as saying that it was premature to comment on whether the detainee allegations were credible until a second military investigation that focuses on Guantanamo Bay abuse allegations is complete.
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