SYDNEY: The Australian military on Friday publicly cleared its troops of beating or humiliating prisoners detained in Afghanistan in April, saying the claims were likely the result of a cultural misunderstanding.

The accusations related to the treatment of four suspected insurgents, including a 70-year-old man and a 25-year-old with only one leg, who were held in the southern province of Uruzgan following a battle with Taliban fighters.

Among the complaints levelled against the Australian troops were that the detainees were "stripped naked, beaten and mistreated" and that they had been subjected to "too rough" handling.

The Australian Defence Force was forced to investigate the claims after an Afghan army officer objected to the treatment of the prisoners and complained to a senior Afghan National Army commander.

The inquiry by Colonel David Connery, in a report released Friday, found that medical evidence and witness statements did not support the allegations.

Connery said while the men may have been "manhandled" during detention and tactical questioning, the lack of significant physical injuries led him to conclude that the force used against each detainee was "reasonable and humane".

"Based on the evidence available to me, I do not believe any of the detainees were beaten up, stripped naked or mistreated by the (Australian) FE (force element) on April 29-30, 2008," he said.

Connery said the initial allegations were made by a young Afghan soldier who saw an old man, who was not wearing trousers when captured, and a disabled man being detained and secured overnight in walled pens.

"A strong sense of cultural appropriateness underpins the initial allegations as some ANA soldiers at the FOB (forward operating base) objected to infidels handling Muslims and did not believe an old man and a cripple could be Taliban," he said.

"The accommodations used for the prisoners at the FOB which had previously been used for dogs may have also increased their anger."

Australia has around 1,000 troops in Afghanistan, mostly assisting a Dutch-led reconstruction operation in Uruzgan, a former Taliban stronghold.


- AFP/so