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Ex-jail chief tells of experiments, blood draining
PHNOM PENH: The former Khmer Rouge
prison chief told Cambodia’s UN-backed war
crimes court yesterday that some inmates had
blood completely drained from their bodies or
were used for medical experiments.
Kaing Guek Eav, better known by his nom de
guerre Duch, was answering judges’ questions
about conditions at Tuol Sleng prison, where he
supervised the torture and extermination of up
to 15,000 people.
“First, live prisoners were used for surgical
study and training. Second, blood drawing was
also done,” Duch told the court.
The testimony represented a new admission
of guilt for Duch, who previously stated he knew
nothing of prisoners being drained of blood.
In one of the most dramatic days so far in his
crimes against humanity trial, Duch at one point
Brown: Iraq war inquiry
to be held in private
LONDON: British Prime Minister Gordon
Brown announced an independent inquiry
into the Iraq war on Monday but immedi-
ately faced claims of a cover-up after saying
it would take evidence in private.
Six years after predecessor Tony Blair
controversially backed the US-led invasion,
Brown said the “unprecedented” inquiry
would cover the eight years from the cam-
paign’s run-up to the pullout of British troops
next month.
But he said it would be held in private for
“national security” reasons, infuriating many
lawmakers and anti-war campaigners.
Brown is currently bidding to reassert his
authority over his ruling Labour Party after
his leadership took a hit from an expenses
scandal, historically bad European and local
election results and a wave of ministerial
resignations.
An inquiry has long been sought by many
Labour MPs, although the nature of the in-
vestigation announced on Monday sparked
anger.
“A secret inquiry conducted by a clutch of
grandees hand-picked by the prime minister
is not what Britain needs,” said Nick Clegg,
leader of the second opposition centrist Lib-
eral Democrats.
Ben Beach, a 19-year-old student protest-
briefs
Chinese waitress
cleared of murder charge
BEIJING: A Chinese waitress who killed a gov-
ernment official when he assaulted her was
set free yesterday, ending a case that sparked
online debate over widespread abuse of power.
Deng Yujiao was originally detained on suspicion
of murder but was found guilty of the lesser
charge of causing injury with intent, Caijing.com
said. Deng stabbed township official Deng Guida
to death at a bathhouse on May 10 in central
Hubei province when he assaulted her after she
refused to provide “special services” – slang
for sex. Deng Guida had pulled out a stack of
cash and tossed it at Deng Yujiao, before push-
ing her down on a sofa, a county government
statement said. The waitress picked up a knife
and stabbed him. – Reuters
N. Korea says US journalists
admitted smear campaign
SEOUL: North Korea said yesterday two US
journalists it sentenced to 12 years of hard
labour were trying to slander the state,
giving its first detailed account of the case
that worsened ties with the US. One of
North Korea’s top courts, in a trial closed to
theSun | WEDNESDAY JUNE 17 2009
became visibly distraught while talking about
which prisoners were tortured and judges gave
him some time to compose himself.
He also told the court that Khmer Rouge
leader Pol Pot knew prisoners’ confessions,
usually extracted through torture, were false.
“Pol Pot, at one point, did not even believe
the confessions were of true information.”
Duch added he also did not believe most
confessions and told the court how he was
summoned by his superior, defence minister
Son Sen, and asked why his staff had not found
any information about the CIA’s agenda.
“It was required for us to seek out CIA
agents. As a result, there were many CIA
agents in the confessions.
“All the prisoners who claimed they were
CIA agents, no they were not.” – AFP
ing outside parliament, said it was an “affront
to democracy in this country”.
“And it’s an affront to British democracy
that this war went ahead despite the over-
whelming majority of people being against
it,” he said.
The inquiry will examine the circum-
stances leading up to Britain’s decision under
Blair to support then US president George
W. Bush in the March 2003 invasion to top-
ple Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, and its
aftermath.
Brown had promised a probe after all but
a handful of Britain’s 4,100 troops withdraw
from Iraq by an agreed date of July 31.
“I’m today announcing the establishment
of an independent privy councillor commit-
tee of inquiry,” he told the House of Com-
mons, saying it would have access “to the
fullest range of information, including secret
information”.
Evidence would be taken in private for
“national security reasons”, he said, adding:
“In this way, also evidence given by serving
and former ministers, military officers and
officials will, I believe, be as full and candid
as possible.” The probe will begin sometime
after July – probably after lawmakers return
from their summer recess in October – and
will take around a year to complete. – AFP
outside observers, last week convicted and
sentenced Laura Ling and Euna Lee, both in
their 30s and working for US media outlet
Current TV, saying they illegally entered
the country to commit “grave crime”. “At
the trial the accused admitted that what
they did were criminal acts committed,
prompted by the political motive to iso-
late and stifle the socialist system of the
DPRK (North Korea) by faking up moving
images aimed at falsifying its human rights
performance and hurling slanders and
calumnies at it,” the official KCNA news
agency said. – Reuters
Man kills boy after accident
to save driving licence
SEOUL: A South Korean motorist who hit and
slightly injured an 11-year-old boy has admitted
later murdering the child in an attempt to cover
up driving offences, reports said yesterday. The
48-year-old hit the child while under the influ-
ence of alcohol and while he was disqualified
from driving. He took the boy to a small hospital
but was referred to a larger facility. Instead of
visiting the larger hospital, the man drove to
an isolated spot in Damyang country 220 south
of Seoul and shot the boy four times with a
powerful air rifle, several newspapers reported.
The interior decorator, arrested after a tip-off,
reportedly told police he killed the boy to avoid
a further driving ban. He was due to get his
licence back in September. – AFP