The men were transferred to the central prison in the capital, Bamako, HRW said.

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Many facilities have peepholes or no locks, so female officers stand guard for each other, HRW said.

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Kenyan army spokesman Major Emmanuel Chirchir told HRW that he did not have knowledge of any abuses, but the military would investigate the claims.

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"President Ouattara's expressed support for impartial justice rings hollow without more concrete action to bring justice for victims of crimes committed by pro-government forces, " said HRW's Param-Preet Singh.

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Those commitments are a beginning, HRW says, but it wants additional steps, including minimum employee standards in line with Qatari law and international labor standards for private contractors involved in World Cup-related construction.

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On Thursday Hamas spokesman Ihab al-Ghusain denied the HRW allegation, saying that an inquiry headed by the prosecutor general had been set up just after the incident and had already made recommendations to the cabinet.

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By reducing the discussion to a simplified fear campaign aimed at stopping the development of autonomous systems, HRW may very well be preventing the deployment of systems that can be more careful and less likely to harm civilians.

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