Britain denies widescale Iraq abuse

David Sapsted, Foreign Correspondent

• Last Updated: November 15. 2009 7:51PM UAE / November 15. 2009 3:51PM GMT

Iraqi detainees claim British troops stripped them and subjected them to sexual abuse. Michael Dunlea / AFP

LONDON // Hundreds of alleged cases of torture and sexual abuse inflicted on Iraqis by occupying British and US forces will never be investigated, a lawyer representing some of the victims claimed yesterday.

Phil Shiner, a UK lawyer who has disclosed that he has raised 33 new abuse allegations with the ministry of defence in London, said the allegations raised questions of collusion between US and British forces in what he claimed was the systematic ill-treatment of Iraqi prisoners.

Faced with Mr Shiner’s claims, government ministers in London reacted furiously, denying that there had been any widespread abuse and saying that the isolated cases of ill-treatment were the actions of a few “bad apples”.

Among the latest accusations were that two British soldiers raped a 16-year-old boy who had been taken into custody, while a 35-year-old carpenter said that, after he was arrested in April 2006, he was taken to the British camp at Shaaibah and subjected to sexual abuse and humiliation by both male and female soldiers.

Others allege that they were stripped naked and photographed in the same style as the notorious pictures at Abu Ghraib, where abuses of prisoners by US troops helped fuel anti-American sentiment.

Mr Shiner said: “I have it on good authority that there are hundreds of cases that are going un-investigated. But if you are an Iraqi and terrible things have happened to you, then how would you know that we have a judicial system in this country to deal with it? My guess is that many of them will remain buried.”

The lawyer, who served notice on the ministry of defence last week of impending legal action on behalf of 33 Iraqis alleging abuse at British hands between 2003 and their withdrawal from the country in June this year, called for a public inquiry into allegations of mistreatment by British troops.

However, Bill Rammell, the armed forces minister, flatly rejected the call, insisting that there was “not any evidence of endemic abuse within the armed forces”.

“Over 120,000 British troops have served in Iraq and the vast majority have conducted themselves to the highest standards of behaviour, displaying integrity and selfless commitment,” the minister said.

“Only a tiny number of individuals have been shown to have fallen short of our high standards. Allegations of this nature are taken very seriously; however, allegations must not be taken as fact and investigations must be allowed to take their course without judgments being made prematurely.”

But Mazin Younis, an Iraqi human rights campaigner who has been investigating allegations of abuse by British troops since 2004, said in yesterday’s Observer newspaper: “It was quite shocking actually, that we started seeing a pattern very similar to Abu Ghraib, where sex or sexual humiliation is used, like playing porn movies in the corridors while the prisoners are in their solitary cells, especially at prayer times.

“Then more serious stuff started coming up, when we realised some female soldiers were exposing themselves in front of prisoners while they were in toilets or showers. On one occasion, one female soldier tried to have sex with one of the detainees while he was resting after an operation in a hospital bed.” Mr Younis said that many victims had waited years before coming forward because of fear.

UK soldiers have faced a series of claims that they mistreated Iraqi civilians in southern Iraq. Last year, Britain settled a legal case involving the death of one Iraqi civilian and the abuse of nine others, paying out nearly £3 million (Dh 18.36m) in compensation.

A public inquiry is continuing into the death of Baha Mousa, a Basra hotel worker who died in 2003 in the custody of British troops. He was found to have suffered 93 separate injuries prior to his death.

Among the latest claims was one from a 24-year-old Iraqi who said that, after being arrested by British troops in 2007, he was taken to a base with another youth, where he alleges that the soldiers then stood on top of them and shouted and laughed.

He also claims that soldiers showed him pornographic films, would play loud music when he tried to pray, and that female soldiers exposed themselves or taunted him sexually.

dsapsted@thenational.ae