Ex-soldier breaks ranks on torture

LONDON- A former soldier who had kept his silence for six years broke ranks yesterday to accuse his superior officer and former comrades of the brutal beating and torture of Iraqi prisoners which ended in the killing of an Iraqi civilian.

Donald Payne, 35, a former corporal in the British Army, said that the soldiers had acted out of revenge over the murder of six Royal Military Policemen and the killing of an Army captain who had been blown up while delivering humanitarian aid to southern Iraq.

In a dramatic change to his evidence, Payne, who has already been convicted of the inhumane treatment of Iraqis, told a public inquiry he and other soldiers had routinely kicked and punched nine Iraqis captured in September 2003.

One of them, Baha Mousa, died from asphyxiation and 93 separate injuries. The new allegations raise concerns about the widespread abuse of dozens of Iraqi detainees and come days after the Ministry of Defence said it was investigating 33 other separate cases of torture carried out by British soldiers in Iraq.

Payne also claims an officer, Lieutenant Craig Rodgers, subjected one of the detainees to a mock execution by forcing him to the ground and pouring liquid over him so that he believed he was about to be set on fire.

In a separate incident, Payne says he saw his commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Jorge Mendonca, interrogate a captured Iraqi by placing a cocked pistol above the man's mouth before telling him he intended to "blow his face off".

Lawyers representing the family of Mousa called on the prosecuting authorities to bring murder charges against those responsible for Mousa's death. Phil Shiner of Public Interest Lawyers said: "At long last Donald Payne has decided to tell the truth. Nobody faced charges for murder or torture in the hopelessly flawed military prosecution and all those responsible should now be charged with murder."

Sapna Malik, of law firm Leigh Day and Co, added: "Donald Payne's latest evidence ... shows the vital role played by the inquiry in getting closer to establishing the truth of what happened to Baha Mousa and his colleagues during those fatal hours and again highlights the deep flaws of the military police investigation and court martial process."

In 2006 Payne became the first member of the UK armed forces to be convicted of a war crime when he pleaded guilty at a court martial to inhumanely treating the Iraqi civilians.

He was part of a group, headed by Rodgers, known by the call sign G10A.

Payne sat with his back to the public gallery. He told the inquiry's chairman, Sir William Gage, that he had covered up the extent of the abuse out of "misguided loyalty".

The former soldier suggested he beat the detainees because he believed - wrongly - that they were linked to the deaths of three Royal Military Police soldiers in Iraq in June 2003.

Payne, who had served several tours of duty in Northern Ireland and had been in Omagh on the day of the IRA bombing, said it was the false "rumour" that triggered the violence. He claims the "rumour" was passed to him by Major Michael Peebles.

Mendonca, who was later promoted to colonel before leaving the Army in 2007, was charged with negligently performing a duty and with five other soldiers was cleared at the court martial.

Rodgers, who left the Army in March 2007 having reached the rank of captain, strongly denied allegations of prisoner abuse when he gave evidence to the inquiry last week. "I did not hit, punch, kick or physically assault any of the detainees at any time."

The inquiry continues.

- INDEPENDENT