On May 21, 2003, a senior British officer, Lieutenant Colonel, Tim Collins, was said to be investigated by military police after an American soldier accused him of ill treatment of Iraqi prisoners. He is accused of pistol-whipping an Iraqi civil leader, of shooting at the feet of Iraqi civilians and shooting at the tires of vehicles driven by Iraqis. Lt Col Collins denies the charges made by a US Major in charges of reservists protecting oil wells near Basra. Previously Lt Col Collins said that the American reservists were not up to the job entrusted to them.
At the beginning of June 2003, military police is questioning a British soldier, 18 year-old Gary Bartlam, about photographs of alleged torture of Iraqi prisoners of war including one picture showing a gagged and bound, and dangling in netting from a forklift truck. Other pictures are said to be of soldiers committing sex acts in front of captured Iraqis.
And, of course, the torture of Iraqi prisoner scandal went further on April 30, 2004, when photographs were released showing, we are told, the mistreatment of an Iraqi prisoner, thought to be a thief, by a British soldier. The poor guy is seen being hit with riffle butts, threatened to be killed and urinated upon. When he was thrown out on the street bleeding and vomiting, his jaw was broken and his teeth gone after his eight hour "treatment". The Ministry of Defence launched an immediate inquiry. The photographs were given to the Mirror newspaper by soldiers presently in Iraq who said that such behaviour was the rule. Blair had to say that he was also appalled by his soldiers' behaviour, if true. The Ministry of Defence admitted that there are currently ten claims of torture and cruelty against Iraqi prisoners by British soldiers and five inquiries are already going on.
On May 2, 2004, the British Military Police were investigating the authenticity of the photographs "showing" British soldiers torturing and abusing an Iraqi prisoner. The photographs are suspicious according to the military authorities although the editor of the Daily Mirror, Piers Morgan that printed them has no doubt about them. The same two soldiers who "gave" the pictures to the newspaper mentioned other similar incidents. They said that hundred of similar photos have been taken and were circulating among the troops and that the Army knows about these incidents. The ministry of Defence denied knowing about torture of Iraqi prisoners. Amnesty International said that four Iraqi prisoners died while in custody of British soldiers in 2003; they also have a lot of complaints from Iraqis for mistreatment. Lawyers for the families of 18 Iraqis said to have been killed by British soldiers will present their case to high court on May 5 because the Ministry of Defence refuses to pay compensation. The claims will be hear about May 12. Some of the families have received ex-gratia payments from the Ministry of Defence -that did not accept legal liability- of between £500 and £1,000. They want more.
With all these stories and photographs of torture in Iraq, these are field days for lawyers. In England, on May 4 2004, the lawyers for the relatives of 14 Iraqis killed in Iraq, by British soldiers they said, are challenging the refusal of the Ministry of Defence to accept legal responsibility for it and pay compensation. The first issue is to find out if the British courts have jurisdiction outside the UK. If the courts decide that they don't, then the British soldiers can kill anybody in Iraq without risk of being prosecuted. It includes at least one man, Baha Mousa, allegedly killed in Basra by soldiers of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, the regiment involved in the pictures printed by the Daily Mirror. In some cases the Ministry of Defence paid some compensation to some victims' families but always refused to accept legal responsibility. Until now there have been 21 alleged unlawful fatalities by the British forces in Iraq and six Iraqis died in British custody. Until now the military investigations have found no guilty behaviour in 15 cases and in the other six some recommendations are still being under consideration. The Ministry of Defence says that the European human rights convention do not apply to British soldiers in Iraq because Iraqis are not covered by them and, moreover, it is true that British soldiers are occupying southern Iraq but they do not control it. As a result British troops are subjected to the Geneva conventions covering the treatment of prisoners, but they are not bound by the European human rights convention in Iraq. Lawyers for the victims' families are contesting this restricted interpretation of the European convention that states in its first article "signatories are obliged to protect the human rights of everyone within their jurisdiction".
On May 4, 2004, the Mirror gave 20 photographs of the alleged torture in Iraq to the Royal Military Police and agreed to have some of its journalists, including its editor Piers Morgan, interviewed by the police. The Common Defence select committee will also want to interrogate him. However they will not reveal their sources of information. On May 5, Military investigators believe that it will probably be impossible to establish if the pictures shown in the Daily Mirror were genuine or not as they are not showing enough details for the experts to be certain. Now the military police is trying to identify the two soldiers who "gave" the photos to the newspapers. Its editor refuses to identify his sources.
In Britain, on May 6, 2004, a third soldier of the Territorial Army but attached to the Queen Lancashire Regiment gave the Daily Mirror a written statement confirming he saw the beating of Iraqi prisoners by British soldiers on four occasions. This soldier was speaking to the Military Police too. According to this witness corporals, sergeants and senior officers were involved. The behaviour of the coalition soldiers in Iraq is seen as an outrage in the Arab world and a shame for the American and British people.
According to The Guardian of May 8, 2004, the Red Cross, through it director, Pierre Kraehenbiehl, told the British commanders about the way their soldiers kept and mistreated prisoners in southern Iraq. This includes the case of a hotel employee, Baha Mousa, killed while kept in custody by British soldiers. A high court judge will hear this case, together with several others, on Tuesday May 11. Military Police officers interviewed a reservist with the Queen Lancashire Regiment who witnessed the torture on May 6.
On May 8, 2004, the British Ministry of Defence insisted that the Daily Mirror photographs showing British soldiers abusing an Iraqi are false but it admitted that it knew of another such event. Piers Morgan the Daily Mirror editor maintains that the pictures are real and he has three unidentified soldiers swearing that they witnessed actual torture of prisoners. A number of arrests and courts martial of soldiers involved in the mistreatment seem to be coming soon.
On May 11, 2004, the British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said that he was alarmed by the brutal American tactics in Iraq and by their "appalling and disgusting human rights abuses". He added that Britain is behaving much more correctly. Tony Blair maintains that the Americans are behaving properly but he is one of the only few believing it. As a result he is facing a growing crisis of confidence.
In London on May 11, 2004, a high court judge ordered an urgent hearing of a challenge by Iraqi families to the government for refusing to hold an independent inquiry and accept legal liabilities for the death of their relatives killed by British troops.
On May 13, 2004, the British government said that the photographs published in the daily Mirror are fake. The pictures accordingly were not taken in Iraq and the lorry used never went there but was parked in Preston. The editor, Piers Morgan, refuses to apologise and to resign. Morgan is now accused of "vilifying" the British soldiers risking their life in Iraq. Obviously he made a big mistake even if this does not remove the blame that British soldiers tortured, abused and even killed some Iraqis.
On May 14, 2004, the military authorities were able to show that the pictures presented by the Daily Mirror were false. The editor of the newspaper, Piers Morgan, was immediately sacked after he refused to apologise. The newspaper did apologise to the British army, the soldiers in Iraq and its readers. The main shareholders in the Daily Mirror, especially the Americans, imposed his firing. Des Kelly, deputy editor until now, will take over until a new editor is nominated.
On May 14, 2004, the lawyers for two former British detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Shafiq Rasul and Asif Iqbal, said that the British government must have been aware of the abuses that took place there as MI5 officers assisted to the interrogations. They said that the torture and abuses were always filmed and they asked for the release of all the pictures and videos taken. On May 16 The Observer revealed that American guards at Guantanamo Bay prison filmed the brutal beating of detainees. Lots of such videos are thought to be kept stored and catalogued in the camp's archives. We were told of the existence of a secret team known as ERF (Extreme Reaction Force) used to mistreat the prisoners.
On May 15, 2004, British military policemen arrested four soldiers under suspicion that they abused Iraqi prisoners. They were then released without charges while further inquiries are going on.
On May 18, 2004, the British military police arrested a number of soldiers in relation with the faked pictures published in the Daily Mirror. At least about four people are interrogated but they have not been charged yet. The daily Mirror said that they did not give their names to anybody.
On June 14, 2004, Lord Goldsmith, the attorney general, said that four unnamed British soldiers of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers are to face court martial for abusing Iraqi prisoners. Military police are also investigating new possible cases of ill treatment after complaint by the Red Cross. The four soldiers are charged with indecent assault, which means that they made their victims engage in sexual activities between themselves. They are also facing military offences such as behaviour contrary to military discipline. These soldiers made photographs and had them processed in this country. The laboratories involved informed the police. Lord Goldsmith said that three other cases have already been referred to the army prosecuting authorities while four others are processed. At this stage this would mean eight cases out of 75 known allegations could reach military courts. The commanding officer of another soldier accused of unlawful killing of an Iraqi civilian dismissed the case. As a result he cannot be sent to a military court but will face ordinary justice.
Also on June 14, 2004, were told that the military police is investigating new allegations of ill treatment of Iraqi prisoners by British troops in Iraq on the base of complaints by the Red Cross. Te allegations are referring to the treatment of Iraqis after a major gun battle on May 14 near Majar al-Kabir. Officially 14 Iraqis were killed but their number is closer to 29 according to the local hospital doctors. About 15 civilians were arrested after the fight; they said that they were hooded and beaten by the soldiers.
On June 20, 2004, we were told that the military police is investigating allegations that British soldiers mutilated the bodies of dead Iraqi fighters following heavy fighting at Majar al-Kabir in May. These allegations are based on death certificates written by Dr Adel Salid Majid, the director of the local hospital. Apparently the bodies that were handed to this hospital after the fight showed signs of "mutilations and torture". Another Iraqi doctor at the Asmara general hospital who refused to give his name disagreed with Dr Majid. Dr Majid saw 28 dead Iraqis and according to him some showed signs of beating and torture including eyes removal and genital mutilations. However photographs and video of the corpses are available to the military police and it is better to wait for their conclusions.
British soldiers accused of abuses against Iraqi civilians could face a military
trial
in Iraq in front of the families of their alleged victims (June 24, 2004).
On July 28, 2004, the families of Iraqi civilians alleged killed by British soldiers began a legal battle in London high court. If they win, this could have serious effects on future military operations in foreign countries. The defence lawyers said that the "Human Rights Act" covered the soldiers' actions in Iraq and that an independent inquiry must decide if the killings were lawful. This case will deal with six, out of a total of thirty, deaths of Iraqi civilians killed by British troops. One of the victims, Baha Mousa, a hotel receptionist, was abused and tortured too. All the detainees were hooded, deprived of sleep, had freezing water poured over them, and were used as "games" by the soldiers who kicked them around.
On June 29, 2004, Blair admitted that British troops in Iraq participated in the interrogation of some prisoners in conditions that are forbidden by the Geneva Conventions. Two British intelligence officers interrogated one Iraqi prisoner in US custody; the man was hooded and shackled all the time. The British officers did not react and did not report it as they thought that it was justified by security reasons. All the same, this procedure was breaking the rules of the Geneva conventions. The military authorities said that it was the only case where this procedure was used but very few people are convinced.
On January 21, 2005, it was revealed that the abuse of Iraqi civilians by British soldiers near Basra in southern Iraq came as a result of trying to stop continuous looting of relief supplies.
On February 6, 2004, The Observer revealed that the British army is inquiring
into some 160 separate allegations of abuses in Iraq by British troops. It
is believed that at least a third of them could lead to some soldiers being
sent to a court martial. It is becoming more and more difficult to maintain
that rogue soldiers made the abuses. It looks more and more as they were well
organised and this would means that they were done:
Under orders from the higher military officers.
That these officers refused to see them.
That they tried to cover up.
British agents' involvement in interrogations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay are under scrutiny in a report to be published by MPs we were told on March 10, 2005. It is believed UK agents have been present at more than a dozen interviews where prisoners have been held in "inappropriate" conditions. The investigation looked at the role of agents from MI5, MI6 and the Defence Intelligence Service, particularly in the gathering of intelligence from suspects in US custody. The episode involving the hooded Iraqi detainee, confirmed in a letter by Tony Blair, was in breach of the Geneva Convention. And British officers have raised concerns with the US authorities on other occasions after being present at interrogations with prisoners in their custody. It is not thought any of the allegations are of a seriousness comparable with the incidents at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq or Camp Bread Basket, after which British soldiers were imprisoned.
On July 20, 2005, three British soldiers are facing war crimes charges as well as criminal charges in connection with the death of a detainee in Iraq in September 2003. One soldier faces manslaughter charges and two others abuse charges after an operation in which the Iraqi died. Four more soldiers face other charges. Seven soldiers will be tried by British courts martial, not at The Hague. In a separate case, four soldiers face criminal charges over claims an Iraqi drowned in a canal after being beaten. One of the 11 men charged is a colonel, the most senior officer to be charged with an offence during the military action in Iraq. The charges faced by three of the men - of "inhuman treatment of persons" - were brought under the International Criminal Court Act 2001 and will be tried as war crimes. The soldiers involved are from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment.
On July 23, 2005, Britain's armed forces face a new wave of damaging legal actions over the alleged torture of detainees in Iraq, prompting concerns from defence chiefs over the role of UK law firms whom they accuse of placing military personnel 'under siege'. The law firm acting for Baha Mousa, is preparing a raft of cases against the military detailing new allegations of abuse and torture. The military like to suggest the Mousa case is the iceberg, not the tip. Unfortunately they are wrong,' said Phil Shiner, a solicitor with the law firm Public Interest Lawyers (PIL). 'I'm acting in over 50 cases of which 22 involve torture or even death of civilians held in detention during occupation.' His practice is acting on behalf of eight men who claim they were abused along with Mousa. Their claims will be heard in the Court of Appeal in October. One man, Kifah Taha al-Mutari, alleges up to eight soldiers took it in turns to abuse him. 'The soldiers would compete as to who could kickbox one of us the furthest. The idea was to make us crash into the wall, al-Mutari claims in a sworn testimony. Shiner is also bringing a case on behalf of nine men who allege they were abused at Camp Breadbasket, the food depot near Basra in southern Iraq, which was subjected to looting after the end of the Iraq war. One of the nine claims he was given a knife and ordered to chop off the finger of another detainee. The pending legal challenges are potentially damaging to the army, which is already facing three abuse trials. The Army Prosecuting Authority, the army's legal division, is also investigating another abuse claim and four shooting-related incidents.
Fresh allegations of abuse of Iraqi prisoners by UK soldiers have been uncovered on August 16, 2005. Two brothers claim they were beaten and denied water and sleep after they were arrested in Basra and taken to a camp, weeks after military action began. Marhab and As'ad Zaaj-al-Saghir have not made an official complaint, but have asked to be compensated for the car and cash they say UK troops seized.
An 18-year-old Iraqi man was killed during an "unjustified" and "gratuitous" assault following a roadside incident in Uzayra, southern Iraq involving seven British soldiers, a court has heard on September 5, 2005. The soldiers - who are charged with murder and violent disorder - attacked villagers with rifle butts, helmets, feet and fists. The court martial, at a military court in Colchester, Essex, follows the death in Iraq of Nadhem Abdullah in May 2003. The 3rd Battalion of the Parachute Regiment soldiers all deny the charges. The soldiers entered the southern Iraqi village during a patrol and "brutally assaulted a number of unarmed Iraqi civilians, causing serious injuries from which one died". During the course of the incident, two women who tried to intervene were assaulted, one being pregnant at the time and the other having given birth two weeks before.
Tony Blair said on February 11, 2006, claims of abuse by soldiers "will be investigated" after images that appeared to show UK troops beating Iraqi youths were published. The News of the World published pictures from a video presumably shot in southern Iraq in 2004. Mr Blair said the overwhelming majority of UK troops in Iraq behave properly and do a "great job for our country and for the wider world". The Ministry of Defence has launched an investigation into the video images. On the tape, described as a "secret home video", an unidentified cameraman is heard laughing and urging his colleagues on. It was apparently filmed for fun by a corporal.
An investigation into pictures of UK troops allegedly abusing Iraqi civilians must be carried out swiftly, Iraq's prime minister said on Monday February 13, 2006, with anyone found to be responsible to be brought to justice immediately. The Royal Military Police have already arrested a man.
A British serving soldier has been arrested over a video showing British troops beating Iraqi teenagers in 2004, the Ministry of Defence said on Monday February 12, 2006. The video, shown widely on British and Arab television, shows soldiers dragging Iraqi protesters behind a wall, beating them with batons and kicking them.
Military Police have arrested two more people over a videotape that appears
to show British soldiers beating protesters after a demonstration in southern
Iraq in 2004, the Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday February 14, 2006.
On February 14, 2006, British troops are facing a backlash in southern Iraq
following the publication of a video showing soldiers beating Iraqi youths
in al-Amarah. Three British soldiers are being interviewed over the video,
which showed the Iraqis being punched, kicked and head butted by troops, accompanied
by a leering commentary. On Sunday night the Royal Military Police arrested
Cpl Martin Webster of the 1st Battalion, Light Infantry, who is thought to
have filmed the footage.
British troops will not face charges over the deaths of a fellow soldier
and a civilian in Iraq, the attorney general said on April 27, 2006. Sgt Steven
Roberts who had given up his body armour because of shortages, was shot dead
when UK troops opened fire during a disturbance at a roadblock at Al Zubayr
near Basra, on 24 March 2003. Iraqi Zaher Zaher was shot and killed in the
same incident. He had been hit twice but "may have survived" had
he had body armour. Attorney General Lord Goldsmith said there was insufficient
evidence for charges.