Mohamed Aboul Abbas is the most prominent prisoner to die in US custody in Iraq ,and joins a growing list of unexplained deaths among the 15,000 Iraqis and Palestinians held by US military forces.

"He was trying to keep away from them because many people - Iraqis and Palestinians - were being arrested, people who had done nothing. Then American troops raided our home. Mohamed wasn't there but I saw it all on Fox Television.

"Would you believe I saw my own home on television and they had moved things around and draped a Palestinian flag over a mirror and then invited Fox Television to film it. On the evening of 14 April, Mohamed called me from a friend's home. It was a big mistake.

United States Ambassador in Brasilia Donna Hrinak cautioned president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to ?carefully calibre his opposition? in crucial issues for the Bush administration such as the current situations in Venezuela and Cuba.