Cries of pain made up 'choir' practice

LONDON - The ringleader of a group of British soldiers conducted a "choir" practice in which the "music" was the cries of pain from captive Iraqis as they were relentlessly beaten, a court martial was told yesterday.

The "orchestrator" of the violence, it is alleged, was Corporal Donald Payne. The trial was shown a video of him manhandling and screaming abuse at handcuffed and hooded prisoners moaning from pain.

The Judge Advocate ruled the footage should not be shown publicly as it might put Britons serving in Iraq in danger from local people.

At the start of the proceedings at Bulford Camo, Wiltshire, Payne became the first British soldier to plead guilty to a war crimes charge.

The court was told he led the assaults on a group of Iraqi detainees arrested in Basra. As well kicking and punching his victims, he had tried to "gouge out the eyes" of one of the men, Kifah Taha Mutairi, who he had nicknamed "Grandad" and who had become a particular target for his abuse.

Mutairi suffered severe kidney damage and "may have died had he not received medical attention", the court was told. Payne is charged with the manslaughter of another prisoner, Baha Musa, who was also picked out by him for prolonged attacks.

Corporal Payne is among seven soldiers accused over the killing of Musa and prisoner assaults. Among them is Colonel Jorge Mendonca, former commanding officer of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, who is the most senior officer to face charges over the war.

- INDEPENDENT