Just an article I picked up from UK news. It is a
different world today. In the past, as recent as World War 2,
looters who were caught can be summarily executed. Now, you are in
deep trouble if you even handle them roughly.
British Soldiers Face Court Martial
Court martial: The British servicemen will face trial in this
country rather than at The Hague
Three British servicemen are to face a court martial after being
charged with the war crime of inhuman treatment of detainees in
Iraq.
The three are the first British troops to be charged with a war
crime under the terms of the International Criminal Court Act
2001.
One of those charged under the Act, Corporal Donald Payne, 34, also
faces an allegation of manslaughter.
They are among 11 servicemen charged in connection with two
separate cases arising from incidents in Iraq.
In the second case, four servicemen are charged with
manslaughter.
Lord Goldsmith says the prosecutions of the British servicemen are
in the public interest
Although charged under the 2001 Act, the three servicemen involved
in the first case will face proceedings before a military tribunal
in this country rather than be tried by the International Criminal
Court at The Hague.
The ICC's jurisdiction is based on the principle that it can only
exercise that jurisdiction when a state is unable or unwilling to
investigate or prosecute.
In a written parliamentary statement issued last night, the
Attorney Genera,l Lord Goldsmith, said that the Army Prosecuting
Authority decided that in case one, seven servicemen should face a
court martial.
Colonel Jorge Mendonca, 41, the highly decorated commanding officer
of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment in Iraq at the time of the
incident, who is now part of the Army's General Staff, is charged
with negligently performing a duty contrary to the Army Act
1955.
The case relates to incidents in the southern Iraqi city of Basra
between 13-15 September 2003.
Killed: Baha Musa, holding one of his children, was allegedly
beaten to death while in custody
The accused are alleged to have committed a number of offences
against Iraqi detainees who were arrested following a planned
operation.
One of the detainees, hotel receptionist Baha Da'oud Salim Mousa,
was allegedly inhumanely treated and killed by Corporal Payne, also
of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment.
Corporal Payne is also alleged to have inhumanely treated other
detainees.
He now faces charges of manslaughter, inhuman treatment of persons
- the ICC Act offence - and perverting the course of justice.
It is further alleged that two other members of the regiment -
Lance Corporal Wayne Crowcroft, 21, and Private Darren Fallon, 22 -
inhumanely treated internees, who sustained injuries following
repeated assaults.
They too have been charged under the ICC Act.
A fourth regiment member, Sergeant Kelvin Stacey, 28, is alleged to
have assaulted a detainee and faces a charge of assault causing
actual bodily harm, alternatively common assault.
Warrant Officer Mark Davies, 36, and Major Michael Peebles, 34,
both of the Intelligence Corps, are charged with neglecting to
perform a duty and negligently performing a duty
respectively.
Lord Goldsmith said that cases against all seven were reviewed by
prosecutors at the Army Prosecuting Authority, which was satisfied
that there is "a realistic prospect of convicting all defendants
and that the prosecutions are in the public interest'.'
In the second case, the authority directed that four servicemen
should stand trial for the manslaughter of Ahmed Jabbar Kareem Ali,
another Iraqi civilian.
That allegation relates to an incident in Basra on 8 May 2003. It
is alleged that the four servicemen detained four suspected
looters, including Mr Ali.
The servicemen allegedly punched and kicked the looters before
forcing them into the Shat Al-Basra canal. Mr Ali, who could not
swim, drowned.
Three of those charged are Sergeant Carle Selman, 38, of the Scots
Guards; Guardsman Martin McGing, 21; and Guardsman Joseph McCleary,
23, both of the Irish Guards.
Another 21-year-old Lance Corporal, also with the Irish Guards, has
yet to be informed of the charge against him and has not yet been
named.
In a statement on the Baha Mousa case, the Defence Secretary, Dr
John Reid, said: "British Armed Forces... do an exceptional job in
very difficult circumstances and operate to the very highest
standards, as the British public rightly expects.
"This is precisely why, if there are allegations that UK armed
forces personnel have failed to maintain these high standards, they
should be properly investigated and, if appropriate, prosecutions
should be brought.
"Anyone accused is innocent until proved guilty and it is for the
courts martial to consider the evidence in any case and reach a
verdict.'
Just last Thursday, senior retired officers who now sit in the
House of Lords voiced deep concerns about the number of
investigations into alleged offences by British servicemen in
Iraq.
Earlier this year, a military review body reduced the sentences of
two soldiers imprisoned for abusing Iraqi civilians in a case that
drew comparisons with the Abu Ghraib prison scandal involving US
forces.
Their trials in Germany focused on photographs taken of the abuse,
which included dangling one man from a forklift.
The Queen's Lancashire Regiment, members of which face charges in
relation to the Baha Mousa case, previously found itself at the
centre of a furore after the Daily Mirror printed photographs,
later discredited, purporting to show its soldiers abusing Iraqi
civilians.