Members of Bangladesh Soldiers of Islam, the children wing of Youth Jamiyat, hold the Quran during an anti-U.S. protest in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, June 3, 2005. The group was demonstrating against the alleged desecration of the Quran by U.S. soldiers in Guantanamo Bay


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U.S. Confirms Gitmo Soldier Kicked Quran

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon on Friday released new details about mishandling of the Quran at the Guantanamo Bay prison for terror suspects, confirming that a soldier deliberately kicked the Muslim holy book and that an interrogator stepped on a Quran and was later fired for "a pattern of unacceptable behavior." In other confirmed incidents, a guard's urine came through an air vent and splashed on a detainee and his Quran; water balloons thrown by prison guards caused an unspecified number of Qurans to get wet; and in a confirmed but ambiguous case, a two-word obscenity was written in English on the inside cover of a Quran. The findings, released after normal business hours Friday evening, are among the results of an investigation last month by Brig. Gen. Jay Hood, the commander of the detention center in Cuba, that was triggered by a Newsweek magazine report — later retracted — that a U.S. soldier had flushed one Guantanamo Bay detainee's Quran down a toilet.

The story stirred worldwide controversy and the Bush administration blamed it for deadly demonstrations in Afghanistan. Hood said in a written statement released Friday evening, along with the new details, that his investigation "revealed a consistent, documented policy of respectful handling of the Quran dating back almost 2 1/2 years." A spokesman for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Lawrence Di Rita, did not address the confirmed incidents of mishandling the Muslim holy book. Reached while traveling with Rumsfeld in Asia, Di Rita said that U.S. Southern Command policy calls for "serious, respectful and appropriate" handling of the Quran. "The Hood inquiry would appear to affirm that policy," Di Rita said. Hood said that of nine mishandling cases that were studied in detail by reviewing thousands of pages of written records, five were confirmed to have happened. He could not determine conclusively whether the four others took place. In one of those four unconfirmed cases, a detainee in April 2003 complained to FBI and other interrogators that guards "constantly defile the Quran." The detainee alleged that in one instance a female military guard threw a Quran into a bag of wet towels to anger another detainee, and he also alleged that another guard said the Quran belonged in the toilet and that guards were ordered to do these things. Hood said he found no other record of this detainee mentioning any Quran mishandling. The detainee has since been released. In the most recent confirmed case, Hood said a detainee complained on March 25, 2005, of urine splashing on him and his Quran. An unidentified guard admitted at the time that "he was at fault," the Hood report said, although it did not say whether the act was deliberate. The guard's supervisor reprimanded him and assigned him to gate guard duty, where he had no contact with detainees for the remainder of his assignment at Guantanamo Bay.

As described in the Hood report, the guard had left his observation post and went outside to urinate. He urinated near an air vent and the wind blew his urine through the vent into the cell block. The incident was not further explained. In another of the confirmed cases, a contract interrogator stepped on a detainee's Quran in July 2003 and then apologized. "The interrogator was later terminated for a pattern of unacceptable behavior, an inability to follow direct guidance and poor leadership," the Hood report said. Hood also said his investigation found 15 cases of detainees mishandling their own Qurans. "These included using a Quran as a pillow, ripping pages out of the Quran, attempting to flush a Quran down the toilet and urinating on the Quran," Hood's report said. It offered no possible explanation for those alleged abuses. In the most recent of those 15 cases, a detainee on Feb. 18, 2005, allegedly ripped up his Quran and handed it to a guard, stating that he had given up on being a Muslim. Several of the guards witnessed this, Hood reported. Last week, Hood disclosed that he had confirmed five cases of mishandling of the Quran, but he refused to provide details. Allegations of Quran desecration at Guantanamo Bay have led to anti-American passions in many Muslim nations, although Pentagon officials have insisted that the problems were relatively minor and that U.S. commanders have gone to great lengths to enable detainees to practice their religion in captivity.

Hood said last week that he found no credible evidence that a Quran was ever flushed down a toilet. He said a prisoner who was reported to have complained to an FBI agent in 2002 that a military guard threw a Quran in the toilet has since told Hood's investigators that he never witnessed any form of Quran desecration. Other prisoners who were returned to their home countries after serving time at Guantanamo Bay as terror suspects have alleged Quran desecration by U.S. guards, and some have said a Quran was placed in a toilet. There are about 540 detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Some have been there more than three years without being charged with a crime. Most were captured on the battlefields of Afghanistan in 2001 and 2002 and were sent to Guantanamo Bay in hope of extracting useful intelligence about the al-Qaida terrorist network. Both President Bush and Rumsfeld have denounced an Amnesty International report that called the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay "the gulag of our time."

The president told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday that the report by the human-rights group was "absurd." On Wednesday, Rumsfeld called the characterization "reprehensible" and said the U.S. military had taken care to ensure that detainees were free to practice their religion. However, he also acknowledged that some detainees had been mistreated, even "grievously" at times.

Austrians to build 2000 houses for Lanka's Tsunami victims

Austrian organisations working in Sri Lanka will build around 2000 houses at a cost of approximately Rs. 600 million for tsunami victims who lost homes. Those organisations and the Austrian public have already donated 50 million Euro to Sri Lanka for the welfare of tsunami victims, Consul for Austria Senaka D. Amerasinghe said.

Addressing the media at the Colombo Plaza yesterday, Amerasinghe said Austria is very happy about the way Sri Lankans handled the reconstruction of railway tracks destroyed by the tsunami. Two hundred houses in the Galle district have already been constructed and handed over to victims. Construction of more houses are being carried out by Austrian organisations, he added.

Amerasinghe said the Vice Chancellor of the Austrian Government will visit Sri Lanka next week.

Sri Lanka's Coordinator of Institute for Integrative Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding, Christopher Temt said rebuilding tsunami affected villages is not just reconstructing houses but is building peace. This is Austria's contribution for a peaceful Sri Lanka.

Site Project Manager, Waagner - Biro Brueckenbau AG, Colombo Office, Ernie Jimenez said three villages: 250 houses and a hospital in Nintavur, 200 houses in Vattavan and 100 houses in Samuduragama will be constructed. The number of houses expected to be built in the North-East is around 550 and the number of houses expected to built in the South is 450.

Several other representatives from different Austrian organisations also spoke. According to them, they maintain close contacts with the inhabitants of the houses while building them.

A group from the Austrian Army visited Sri Lanka and assisted in debris clearing soon after the tsunami.

Water purification plants, 21 buses and six pick up trucks (from Austrian Federal Railway) are among the six donations received from Austrian organisations.

The Austrian Organisations (Red Cross) also assisted community service in Ratnapura. Seva Lanka and Sarvodaya are among the local organisations which worked with the Austrian organisations.

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India, Sri Lanka express concern over cease-fire violations by Tamil Tiger rebels Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga on Friday won India's crucial backing for an aid deal with Tamil Tiger rebels, but both sides expressed concern over cease-fire violations and the alleged acquisition of aircraft by the militants.

After meetings with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other officials, Kumaratunga thanked India for the prompt help after the devastating Dec. 26 tsunami, and briefed them on developments in the peace process with the rebels as well as work done in the tsunami-affected areas.

New Delhi announced a grant of 1 billion rupees (US$22 million; euro18 million) for Colombo's tsunami reconstruction efforts and a three-year moratorium on debt payments, according to an Indian foreign ministry statement.

One of the main purposes of Kumaratunga's visit was to get India's support for her efforts to establish a Post Tsunami Operational Management Structure, an aid coalition involving the rebels. The alliance would for the first time make the rebels a partner in distributing foreign aid, something that has been slammed by Kumaratunga's main coalition partner.

``The Prime Minister expressed understanding of and support for these ongoing efforts,'' the statement said.

On Friday, Kumaratunga also met Sonia Gandhi, head of the Congress party that leads India's ruling coalition. Gandhi's husband, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, was assassinated by a Tamil Tiger suicide bomber in 1991.

The Tamil Tigers have been fighting since 1983 for a separate homeland for ethnic Tamils in the north and east of the country, claiming discrimination by the majority Sinhalese. The conflict killed nearly 65,000 people before the cease-fire, which has largely held despite sporadic violations and the breakdown in peace talks in 2003.

``In their discussions on the peace process, concern was expressed over cease-fire violations. Particular concern was expressed over the illegal acquisition of air capability,'' the joint statement said.

Sri Lankan media reports say the rebels have acquired two aircraft, but the Tigers have only admitted to having an airstrip in the rebel stronghold of Mullaitivu.

The statement added that India and Sri Lanka ``emphasized the need for the early resumption of negotiations in the peace process that will lead to a durable political solution that maintains the unity and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka.''

India and Sri Lanka have close cultural links. India's southern state of Tamil Nadu is home to 56 million ethnic Tamils, who have traditional links with Sri Lanka's minority of 3.2 million Tamils.

India was among the first countries to help Sri Lanka tackle the damage caused by the Indian Ocean tsunami which killed 31,000 people and affected 1 million others in the island nation. But residents in Tamil-majority areas controlled by the Tigers have complained that aid has been slow to reach them.

Singh ``reiterated that India remains committed to assist Sri Lanka's remarkable efforts to recover from the tragedy of the tsunami,'' the statement said.

Kumaratunga returns home Saturday.

Eds: Associated Press Writer Shimali Senanayake in Colombo, Sri Lanka contributed to this report.

Tamil-majority northeast shuts down, demanding withdrawal of Sri Lankan troops

Grenade attacks wounded at least eight people in northeastern Sri Lanka on Friday, as schools and businesses closed to demand the withdrawal of government troops from a restive city after clashes between ethnic Tamils and Sinhalese, officials and residents said.

About 2,000 extra military personnel and police were deployed in the eastern port town of Trincomalee following the last month's ethnic violence over the construction of a Buddha statue in the heart of the multi-religious town.

Trincomalee has been volatile, with many residents demanding that the security forces leave.

Six people were slightly wounded when unidentified attackers lobbed a grenade into a vegetable market near Trincomalee, about 230 kilometers (140 miles) northeast of the capital, Colombo, said police officer Neville Wijesinghe.

Separately, two suspected Tamil Tiger rebels threw a grenade at air force troops at a security checkpoint in Trincomalee, said military spokesman Brig. Daya Ratnayake.

The grenade didn't explode, but the two men were shot when the air force personnel fired in self-defense, and both were hospitalized, Ratnayake said.

Also Friday, suspected Tamil Tigers hurled another grenade at an army vehicle in the same region but it exploded prematurely and caused no damage, the spokesman said.

Area residents wanted the extra security forces out.

``We only want these additional troops withdrawn as promised. They are blocking normal life,'' said lawmaker Kanagalingam Sivajilingam of the Tamil National Alliance, a political party backed by the Tamil Tigers.

Sri Lanka's government had promised to withdraw the extra security forces immediately in return for the postponement of a strike by Tamils, Sivajilingam said. There was no immediate comment from the government.

About 70 percent of Sri Lanka's 19 million people are Sinhalese Buddhists. Minority Tamils are mostly Hindu.

However, Trincomalee _ where Sri Lanka's navy has a base _ has roughly equal numbers of Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims.

Tamils opposed the construction of the Buddha statue in the city, and held a five-day protest strike in Trincomalee last month. Violence broke out and a grenade, thrown by an unidentified attacker, left one person dead.

The Tamil Tiger rebels began an armed insurrection in 1983, demanding a separate state for Tamils in Sri Lanka's northeast. More than 65,000 people were killed in the conflict before a 2002 Norway-brokered cease-fire was signed. Peace talks have been suspended since 2003 due to disagreements over power-sharing.

Tamils have longed claimed to have suffered from discrimination by the Sinhalese.