UK soldiers cleared of Iraqi death

14/03/2007| IslamWeb

Two British soldiers have been cleared over the death of an Iraqi prisoner at the end of a six-month trial, the third costly prosecution in a row to collapse.

Major Michael Peebles and Mark Davies, an officer, were cleared of neglecting their duties on Tuesday, three weeks after the judge ordered charges to be dropped against five of them.

During the court martial, surviving victims flown in from Iraq described two days of near-constant abuse while prisoners of the British unit in 2003.

But they were unable to identify the soldiers who attacked them, because they were hooded during the beatings.

The only conviction secured in the longest British court martial in memory was against one of the five who had charges against them dropped. Corporal Donald Payne had admitted from the beginning to abusing prisoners.

But manslaughter charges against him were among those dropped, meaning no one will be punished directly over the death of Baha Musa, an Iraqi hotel receptionist, who died after receiving 93 injuries during two days of beatings in British custody.

British command approval?

The trial at Bulford in Wiltshire was the last and biggest of three high-profile courts martial of British soldiers accused of killing Iraqi detainees.

The other cases collapsed with no convictions, infuriating human rights groups - which accuse the government of failing to bring soldiers to justice – as well as supporters of the military who say it has pursued weak cases.

The latest case also raised questions over whether senior British commanders approved severe treatment of prisoners which Britain considers illegal under the Geneva Conventions.

Among those cleared was Jorge Mendonca, the former commanding officer of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, who had been the highest-ranking British officer to face a court martial in modern times.

Judge Stuart McKinnon said on Monday that he had ordered Mendonca cleared because both prosecutors and the defence agreed that Mendonca's commanders had sanctioned the abuse, known as "conditioning".

Prisoners were kept in "stress positions" and hooded for long periods to "condition" them for interrogations, practices which Britain considers illegal.

"It is now effectively common ground that brigade did indeed sanction the use of hooding and stress positions," McKinnon said. "That obviously contributed to the favourable result for Colonel Mendonca."

The others who were cleared were Wayne Cowcroft, a Lance Corporal and Private Darren Fallon, each charged with inhuman treatment, and Sergeant Kelvin Stacey, charged with assault.

PHOTO CAPTION

Image released by Britain's Ministry of Defence on Sunday March 4, 2007 shows Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, visiting UK troops serving in southern Iraq on Saturday March 3. (AP)