- Evidence that soldiers of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment
carried out systematic torture of Iraqi civilians under the direction of
an officer is to be put before the High Court, The Independent on Sunday
can reveal.
-
- Five Iraqis arrested with Baha Mousa, the Basra hotel
receptionist who allegedly died in detention after three days of beatings
by QLR troops, have given detailed witness statements about their ordeal.
Their evidence - given exclusively to the IoS - will undermine claims that
abuses of Iraqi civilians were carried out by "rogue" members
of the regiment.
-
- However, there were reports last night that British and
American soldiers would be granted immunity from prosecution in Iraq after
the handover of power on 30 June.
-
- Lawyers and Amnesty International claim the witness statements
show that officers were overseeing systematic ill-treatment and abuse of
detainees as an interrogation technique. Lesley Warner, the media director
for Amnesty UK, said yesterday: "The beatings were reportedly conducted
in the presence of officers and in some cases officers actually took part.
These reports are particularly serious and underline the need for a full,
independent inquiry. Those responsible must be brought to justice."
The Ministry of Defence would not comment on the statements, saying the
case was still under investigation.
-
- The emergence of the testimony has come after Adam Ingram,
the Armed Forces minister, admitted last week that three further allegations
of unlawful killings by British forces are being investigated, including
the first allegations against the Royal Air Force Regiment. The RAF police
is investigating the death of Tanik S Mahmud, an Iraqi prisoner of war
who died in custody in April 2003 on board a military helicopter.
-
- Mr Ingram also disclosed that a death in March 2003,
involving a man named only as Mr Zaher, was under investigation. The third
inquiry involves the shooting dead of a man celebrating a wedding, Ghanim
Gatteh - a case revealed by the IoS last month.
-
- Last Friday, the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, revealed
he had asked the Crown Prosecution Service to review a case of alleged
murder by a British soldier because the MoD admitted it could not be dealt
with under military law. The Royal Military Police has already recommended
that soldiers face charges over the death of Mr Mousa, and senior military
officials have confirmed that charges are "imminent". But the
possible involvement of the CPS is thought to have delayed a final announcement.
-
- The fresh evidence will add to the growing scandal of
abuse in Iraq and elsewhere. The Pentagon revealed yesterday that the US
military is carrying out another eight investigations into suspected murders
of prisoners in custody. The causes of death, which have all been classed
as homicides, include multiple gunshot wounds, strangulation and "blunt-force
injuries". This take to 37 the number of suspicious deaths of detainees
by US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2002.
-
- The worst abuses are alleged to have occurred in a detention
centre run by the elite Delta Force near Baghdad airport. Senior US officials
claimed some of the "most egregious violations" of the Geneva
Convention took place in the facility, known simply as BIF, some miles
from the already notorious Abu Ghraib prison.
-
- The revelations come after more than 40 Iraqis at a wedding
party, including children, were killed in a US air strike near the Syrian
border. Military chiefs continue to insist the attack was justified by
"credible intelligence", despite video footage, so far unpublished,
that appears to show a devastated wedding celebration.
-
- In a further blow to the Pentagon, a former US Marine
reveals today in the IoS that soldiers in his unit routinely killed innocent
civilians and desecrated corpses. Meanwhile, another member of the Iraqi
Governing Council was targeted by insurgents linked to al-Qa'ida yesterday.
Abdul-Jabbah Youssef al-Sheikhli, a deputy interior minister, received
head and chest injuries in a suicide car-bomb attack that killed at least
five.
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- © 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=524032
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