Charge the Prisoners in Abu Ghraib, or Release Them!

"The 1949 Geneva Conventions permit the detention without charge of prisoners of war and other detainees only in the case of an international armed conflict - which by definition is between governments - or an occupation. Washington says that both will come to an end on June 30, meaning that the ongoing conflict between the Iraqi government and Iraqi insurgents would become a civil war. That a sovereign government may seek assistance from foreign governments does not transform a civil war into an international conflict. In the absence of an occupation or an international conflict, no one can be detained under international humanitarian law without being charged with a recognized crime. Those not charged must be released and repatriated 'without delay.'

'The Bush administration can't have its cake and eat it too,' said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. 'If the occupation is over, so is the U.S. authority to detain Iraqis without criminal charges.' "