- The Washington Times - Wednesday, January 13, 2016

A State Department spokesman on Wednesday told reporter’s that Iran may have violated conditions of the Geneva Convention when it released video footage of detained U.S. Navy sailors.

Images released by Iran on Wednesday showed the ten captures sailors kneeling with their hands held over their heads and a video shows one of the sailors offering an apology, saying the Navy boats accidentally drifted into Iranian waters.

When asked whether forcing the sailors to put their hands over their heads was a violation of the Geneva Convention, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said that taking video or images or prisoners of war could be a violation of the convention.

“I mean, generally speaking, you’re not supposed to show images of detained prisoners of war,” Mr. Toner said at a press briefing, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

Article 13 of the Geneva Convention states that prisoners of war must be “protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity.”

Mr. Toner said that the videos still needed to be assessed for their authenticity.

“But, you know, again, we’ve got some videos out there circulating, we don’t know if they’re authentic. We don’t know much about them other than they’re out there circulating out there right now. We’re going to assess,” he said.

In one of the videos released Wednesday, the sailors are shown without their equipment or weapons, and one female soldier is shown wearing a hijab.

According to Article 14 of the Geneva Convention “Women shall be treated with all the regard due to their sex and shall in all cases benefit by treatment as favourable as that granted to men.”

In other words, female prisoners of war are supposed to be given the same treatment as men, no matter what the religious customs are in the country they are being held.

In 2003 when Iraq showed imaged of American prisoners of war on television the George W. Bush administration called the move “disgusting” and Congress reacted quickly, passing a unanimous resolution demanding that Iraq abide by the laws of war, Breitbart News reported.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest on Wednesday said the president is “pleased” that Iran released the 10 sailors but would not comment on reports about Iran’s treatment of the sailors.

“We’re still trying to learn more about how exactly that all happened,” he said. 

Secretary of State John Kerry thanked Iranian authorities Wednesday for their “cooperation and quick response” and said that it appeared the sailors were “well taken care of.”

• Kellan Howell can be reached at khowell@washingtontimes.com.

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