Negative incidents involving copies of Islam's holy book, the Koran, have occurred at the US military base Guantanamo on the island of Cuba, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reported Friday.
"There were cases of treating copies of the Koran with disrespect, prisoners held at the US military base Guantanamo have told us," a ICRC spokesman said in a broadcast by Swiss radio DRS.
With his comment, the spokesman confirmed earlier, similar reports by the Swiss news agency, SDA.
The "incidents" occurred in the years 2002 and 2003, and the ICRC had discussed the issues with US authorities, who had then implemented "corrective measures," the spokesman said.
According to international laws, ICRC officials are permitted to regularly visit prison camps anywhere in the world.
However, the organization usually does not inform the public about the insights gained during such visits but in most cases only the country under which jurisdiction the particular facility is operated.
The spokesman did not explain how the disrespect against the Koran had manifested itself.
On Monday, the US news magazine Newsweek retracted an article about an alleged desecration of the Koran at Guantanamo after it came under pressure from the US government
The article had previously triggered violent protests in several Islamic countries.
About 550 prisoners are still detained at Guantanamo without indictment or trial, some of them since more than three years.
The detainees are suspected of terrorist activities by the US government.
Most of them were arrested during the Afghanistan war led by the US.
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