Conditions ‘Difficult’ For Iraqi Prisoners

Two imprisoned Americans are languishing in rough conditions in a cellblock with 200 inmates and three holes for toilet facilities, a Polish diplomat and a reporter said Tuesday.

The diplomat, Ryszard Krystosik, visited the pair in the maximumsecurity Abu Ghraib prison. They were sentenced March 25 to eightyear terms for illegally entering the country.

“They are well. They’re better than before. However, their conditions are difficult,” said Krystosik, who represents U.S. interests in Iraq in the absence of direct relations between Baghdad and Washington.

The prisoners - David Daliberti, 41, of Jacksonville, Fla., and William Barloon, 39, of New Hampton, Iowa - were arrested by Iraqi border guards on March 13.

Daliberti and Barloon, who worked for U.S. defense contractors in Kuwait, say they unwittingly strayed into Iraq while trying to visit friends at a U.N. post near the Kuwaiti border.