Rights group Amnesty International urged Iraq on Sunday not to ill-treat its American prisoners of war and called on the media to respect the dignity of captives on both sides of the conflict.
Iraqi state television earlier filmed brief interviews with five shaken US soldiers captured in southern Iraq and showed the bloodied bodies of up to eight of their comrades.
The footage was re-broadcast by Arabic satellite station al-Jazeera, prompting a warning from US President George W. Bush that he would regard Iraqis who mistreated POWs as war criminals.
Amnesty said the captured US soldiers should be afforded the protections of the Geneva Convention and "should not be subjected to any form of torture or ill-treatment."
"Amnesty International also calls on all media to ensure in its use of images that the dignity of all prisoners of war, whether Iraqi or US or other, is respected," it said.
Pictures of surrendering and captured Iraqi troops, some in humiliating positions, taken by news photographers and television crews with US and British forces in Iraq have won wide play in the US and other countries.
The Geneva Convention says POWs are entitled "at all times to respect for their persons and their honor" and "must at all times be protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity".
Iraq, the US and its war ally Britain have all said they are respecting the convention.
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