Amnesty condemns UK for Iraqi civilian deaths

1.00pm


LONDON - Amnesty International accused the British government on Tuesday of undermining the rule of law in Iraq by failing properly to investigate suspected unlawful killings of Iraqi civilians by UK soldiers.

In a report released amid a storm of accusations about the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners by both American and British forces, Amnesty said UK troops had breached international human rights standards by killing civilians who appeared to pose no threat.

"The British Army's response to suspected unlawful killing of civilians has undermined, rather than upheld, the rule of law," it said in the report.

"It has failed to conduct investigations into all killings of civilians, and the investigations that have been carried out have failed to ensure that justice was done and seen to be done in the eyes of the victims' families."

Amnesty highlighted nine specific cases of killings in the southern Iraqi areas of Basra and Amara, including one eight-year-old girl and a father of nine children who worked for 35 years as a security guard at a girls' school.

It said investigations into the killings, if conducted at all, were shrouded in secrecy and victims' families had not been given adequate information about how to apply for compensation.

"All governments are under a duty to take action to secure right to life," Amnesty said. "In the case of suspected killings, a government must launch a thorough, competent, independent and impartial investigation...and bring to justice persons who are reasonably suspected of responsibility."

Lawyers acting for 12 Iraqi families who allege their relatives were unlawfully killed by British troops in post-war Iraq took their case to Britain's High Court last week.

The lawyers argue the killings were a violation of the victims' right to life under European law.

The High Court challenge and the Amnesty report will pile yet more pressure on Prime Minister Tony Blair's government, already under fierce fire about how British troops are treating Iraqi prisoners and civilians.

Thirteen months after the fall of Saddam Hussein, the administrations of both Blair and US President George W Bush have been rocked by a scandal that hit the headlines when graphic images were splashed across their national media of Iraqi prisoners being humiliated and mistreated.

Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper last week printed photographs apparently showing troops urinating on a prisoner and beating him. The authenticity of the pictures has been questioned but the paper has since published evidence from a soldier who said he had witnessed savage beatings of Iraqis.

More damage has been wrought by the revelation that the International Committee of the Red Cross alerted the government months ago to possible mistreatment of British-held captives.

Amnesty International has also said it warned the government last May that Iraqis had been tortured and killed in British custody.

- REUTERS

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Herald Feature: Iraq