Britain to continue handing over prisoners, despite death penalty

4.00pm - By DONALD MACINTYRE

BAGHDAD - Prisoners taken by British forces will be liable for execution by the Iraqi authorities despite the British government's declaration that it opposed the decision by the interim government in Baghdad to restore the death penalty.

Britain's decision to continue handing over detained insurgents and others charged with capital crimes became clear yesterday after the Danish military suspended the routine handover of their prisoners to UK forces for fear they could be executed.

The Danish Defence Ministry disclosed that its 500-strong forces in Basra and the nearby southern town of Qurnah, had stopped handing over its prisoners to UK forces who maintain the dominant military role in the area. They have hitherto been required to release them or hand them over to Britain after 24 hours.

Denmark, which like the UK opposes the death penalty, says they were offered a "loose" agreement under which they would be consulted before any of their detainees were handed over to Iraqi forces, and were not prepared to hand the detainees over unless that was hardened into a firm pledge that such prisoners would not be executed.

But the British Ministry of Defence said yesterday that British forces had apprehended suspects of a criminal offence in Iraq in support of the Iraqi authorities and added: "there will be situations in which we have no choice but to hand over detainees to the Iraqi criminal justice system."

Britain repeated its opposition to capital punishment after Iyad Allawi's interim government announced on Sunday it was re-instituting the death penalty for a wide range of offences, including murder, kidnapping and drug running, as part of its crackdown on insurgents.

The British embassy in Baghdad -while saying the detainees would be dealt withon a "case by case" basis -- repeated the MOD formula yesterday. A spokeswoman said that while UN resolution 1546 provided for internment by coalition forces in exceptional circumstances this was not a long-term alternative to handing over detainees to the Iraqi authorities.

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Herald Feature: Iraq