A rchive Date
[ 30-04-2004 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Britain ]
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[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4874267/
Britain probes new case of alleged prisoner abuse
Newspaper publishes photo of hooded, beaten captive
The Daily Mirror published a photograph Saturday of a British soldier apparently urinating on an Iraqi detainee.
The Associated Press
Updated: 6:56 p.m. ET April 30, 2004
LONDON - British military officials confirmed Friday that they were investigating new allegations that their soldiers abused a prisoner in Iraq.
The report followed confirmation from the Defense Ministry in a separate case that military authorities were considering whether to prosecute eight soldiers for allegedly abusing prisoners.
The new charges came as the Daily Mirror newspaper published photographs of a hooded prisoner who reportedly was beaten and had his teeth broken at the hands of British troops.
“All allegations are already under investigation,” Gen. Michael Jackson, chief of the General Staff, said at a late-night news conference. “If proven, the perpetrators are not fit to wear the queen’s uniform. They have besmirched the good name of the army and its honor.”
The Mirror said it was given the pictures by soldiers from the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment, who were concerned that “rogue elements” in the army were undermining attempts to win support from the Iraqi people. The newspaper ran one of the pictures, of a soldier apparently urinate on the man, on its cover.
The newspaper quoted the unidentified soldiers as saying the unarmed captive had been threatened with execution during eight hours of abuse and was left bleeding and vomiting. They said the captive was then driven away and dumped from the back of a moving vehicle, and it was not known whether he survived.
Blair backs investigation
A spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair said he supported Jackson’s statement.
“The prime minister agreed that allegations of this nature are treated most seriously, but they should not be taken as a reflection of the general behavior of coalition forces and the work they are doing with the Iraqi people,” Blair’s office said.
The separate case involving the eight soldiers came to light a year ago, when The Sun newspaper reported that a soldier had a roll of film showing an Iraqi detainee bundled up in netting and suspended from a fork-lift truck. The Sun claimed that the film also showed troops performing sex acts near captured Iraqis.
The ministry said that the Royal Military Police’s Special Investigations Branch has completed its investigation and that the army’s prosecuting authority was deliberating whether to press charges.
None of the soldiers has been publicly identified.
“Where allegations are made, they will be investigated by the SIB, and that’s what every soldier who wears the British uniform knows,” Blair’s official spokesman said.
Blair’s spokesman mentioned the British case at a morning press briefing as journalists sought the government’s reaction to alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners of war by U.S. soldiers.
“The U.S. Army spokesman has said this morning that he is appalled, that those responsible have let their fellow soldiers down, and those are views that we would associate the U.K. government with,” said Blair’s official spokesman, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.
“This is not representative of the 150,000 soldiers that are in Iraq,” the spokesman said, adding that the coalition should not be judged on the alleged actions of a few.
© 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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