Australian 'tortured' in Iraqi prison

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http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18409292%255E5001561,00.html

Natalie O'Brien
March 10, 2006

MENTAL and physical torture, including electric shock treatment, is claimed to have been inflicted on a 23-year-old Australian man held without charge in a secret Iraqi jail for the past 18months.

In the first contact made since his detention, Ahmed Jamal has revealed to Australian consular officials that he is still being threatened by prison authorities and is suffering memory loss and skin rashes. His plight, which was revealed yesterday, has prompted his family's lawyer, Stephen Kenny, to call for "urgent and immediate action" by the federal Government to protect the interests of the Sydney man.

"The delays that have occurred in getting assistance to Mr Jamal were a great concern and our concerns have been justified," Mr Kenny said last night.

Australian embassy officers flew in a US helicopter to Suleimaniyah in northern Iraq 10 days ago to visit Mr Jamal for the first time since he was detained for unexplained "security reasons" in September 2004 by members of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which controls northern Iraq.