A US bioethicist has accused US army medics of being complicit in the abuse of Iraqi prisoners in the British medical journal Lancet released on Friday.

Writing in the journal, Professor Steven Miles from the US University of Minnesota said some medics collaborated with abusiveguards at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad and called for an inquiry into the role played by medics in the abuse.

"Government documents show that the US military medical system failed to protect detainees' human rights, sometimes collaborated with interrogators or abusive guards, and failed to properly report injuries or deaths caused by beatings," the academic said.

"In one example, soldiers tied a beaten detainee at the top of his cell door and gagged him," he said. "The death certificate indicated that he died of 'natural cause...during his sleep'. After news media coverage, the Pentagon revised the certificate tosay that the death was a 'homicide'."

Miles, who gathered evidence from US congressional hearings, sworn statements of detainees and soldiers, medical journal accounts and press reports to build a picture of physician complicity, also said although the US Armed Forces' medical services were mainly staffed by humane and skilled personnel, the described offenses do not merely fall short of medical ideals, some constitute grave breaches of international or US law.

The US military said investigations about the allegations were already under way and it knew of no instances in which medical personnel failed to provide medical aid to injured detainees.

Reports of abuse at the US-run prison first came to light at the end of April. Photographs showing naked Iraqi detainees being humiliated and maltreated sparked anger across the world.

Source: Xinhua