Baghdad: Claims by Iraq's fugitive Sunni vice-president that his bodyguard was tortured while in custody were denied yesterday by security forces, who said he died of kidney failure.
Amr Sarbut Zaidan Al Batawi died because he refused treatment for a kidney condition, a senior Iraqi general said a day after Vice-President Tarek Al Hashemi, wanted on terror charges, alleged the 33-year-old's body bore signs of torture.
"He died because he had a serious disease in his kidney, and he refused to be tested and to be treated," Lieutenant-General Hassan Al Baydhani, chief of staff of Baghdad's security command centre, told AFP yesterday.
Asked about Al Hashemi's claims of holding photographic evidence of Al Batawi suffering torture, Baydhani replied: "It is easy for Photoshop to show anything," referring to a popular digital photo editing software.
Al Hashemi released a statement on Wednesday in which he said Al Batawi, a married father-of-three, had died and his body was handed to his family on March 18, around three months after his initial arrest.
Savage methods
"There were signs of torture in several parts of his body, including several sensitive places, a cause of savage methods used on him during the investigation," the statement said.
In December, shortly after US troops completed their withdrawal from Iraq, the country's Shiite-led authorities issued an arrest warrant for Al Hashemi, a Sunni, on terror charges, sparking a protracted political crisis.
