Dutch soldiers were involved in torturing dozens of Iraqi prisoners at the end of 2003, the Volkskrant claims this morning. The paper says that members of the military security service MIVD carried out ‘strong-arm tactical interrogations’.

These included alternating blindfolds with strong light, throwing water on prisoners to keep them awake and subjecting them to ‘very high-pitched sounds’. There was no legal advisor present during the interrogations, as required by law.
The Defence Ministry confirmed events to the paper. ‘Things did happen which are not part of the instructions,’ information chief Joop Veen said. He did not know if Defence Minister Henk Kamp had been informed. ‘It happened a long time ago and you cannot remember everything,’ the paper quoted him as saying.
Luuk Kroon, chief of the defense staff at the time of the events, had been told about unease over the way prisoners were being treated, the paper said. But he chose not to inform the Public Prosecution Department as he had been recommended to do.
The information gained during the interrogations was passed on to the British, the paper said.