The US military has identified five incidents of "mishandling of a Koran" by US personnel at Guantanamo Bay, but found no credible evidence that the Muslim holy book had been flushed down a toilet, the commander of the prison said yesterday.
Brigadier General Jay Hood refused to specify the nature of the mishandling of the Koran at the prison for foreign terrorism suspects at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, other than to say it did not involve placing it in a toilet.
An FBI agent quoted a detainee in an August 2002 document made public on Wednesday as saying guards had thrown a Koran in a toilet.
Hood said military investigators interviewed that man this month, but did not directly ask him whether he had seen US personnel put a Koran in a toilet.
But Hood told a Pentagon briefing: "I'd like you to know that we have found no credible evidence that a member of the Joint Task Force at Guantanamo Bay ever flushed a Koran down a toilet."
Hood said two US Guantanamo staffers had been disciplined. One was transferred to other duties, Hood said.
He did not describe the other case. Giving preliminary findings of a 12-day-old military inquiry into treatment of the Koran at Guantanamo, Hood said investigators turned up 13 allegations of mishandling the Koran, with five confirmed cases of "what could be broadly defined as mishandling of a Koran."
Four US guards and one interrogator were involved in the cases, three of which appeared to be deliberate mishandling and two accidental, Hood said.
Four of the five cases took place before written guidelines were issued in January 2003 on handling the Koran at Guantanamo, Hood said. Hood also said U.S. military investigators this month interviewed the detainee quoted in the August 2002 document.
Hood said this detainee did not mention during the May 14 interview that U.S. personnel had placed a Koran in a toilet.
"The guards in the detention facility do not treat him well. Their behavior is bad. About five months ago, the guards beat the detainees. They flushed a Koran in the toilet," the FBI agent wrote, summarizing the detainee's comments.