New documents released by the FBI showed that prisoners at the US military base at Guantanamo, Cuba complained in 2002 that guards had mistreated the Koran, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said on Wednesday.

In one summary, an FBI interrogator noted a prisoner's allegation that guards flushed a Koran down the toilet, said the ACLU, which received the undisclosed documents in response to a federal court order.

The disclosure comes on the heels of controversy over a Newsweek report saying that government investigators had corroborated an almost identical incident. Newsweek ultimately retracted its story because a confidential government source could not be confirmed.

"The United States government continues to turn a blind eye to mounting evidence of widespread abuse of detainees held in its custody," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero in a statement.

According to the FBI documents, a detainee interviewed in August 2002 said guards had flushed the Koran in the toilet. Others reported the Koran being kicked, withheld as punishment, and thrown on the floor, and said they were mocked during prayers.

One detainee informed his FBI interviewers that using the Koran "as a reprisal or as an incentive for cooperation has failed," and that the only result would be "the damage caused to the reputation of the United States once what had occurred was released to the world."

The Pentagon has said prisoner's previous allegations concerning the Koran desecration weren't considered credible, and there had been incidents when detainees felt offended when the Koran fell to the floor at Guantanamo.

Source: Xinhua