All sides of the conflict in Iraq must treat prisoners of war (POWs) in full conformity with the Third Geneva Convention.

They should be treated humanely and not be subjected to any form of torture or ill-treatment and should be given immediate access to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

On March 23, US President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair accused Iraq of breaching the Geneva Convention by showing captured US soldiers o­n Iraqi TV and demanded fair treatment for the POWs. The same principle applies to Iraqi prisoners of war. Iraqi officials have stated that they will respect the Geneva Convention.

On the same day, however, about 30 more detainees were flown from Afghanistan to the US Naval Base in Guant namo Bay in Cuba. This brought to about 660 the number of foreign nationals from approximately 40 countries held in the base.

Despite many requests, Amnesty International is still denied access to Bagram and Guant namo Bay prisons. In addition, until today there has been no full and impartial inquiry into allegations of torture and ill-treatment by US personnel against alleged al-Qaeda and Taliban detainees held at the US Air Base in Bagram, Afghanistan.

When the first of the detainees arrived in Guant namo in January last year, the Pentagon released a photograph of the detainees in orange jumpsuits, kneeling before US soldiers, shackled, handcuffed, and wearing blacked-out goggles over their eyes and masks over their mouths and noses.

The photograph shocked world opinion and led Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to acknowledge that it was "probably unfortunate" that the picture had been released, at least without better captioning.

He added: "My recollection is that there's something in the Geneva Conventions about press people being around prisoners -- and not taking pictures and not saying who they are and not exposing them to ridicule" (Department of Defence News Briefing - Secretary Rumsfeld and General Pace, January 22, 2002).

The media must also ensure in its use of images that the dignity of all prisoners of war, whether Iraqi or US or any other, is respected.