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IRAQ:
CURRENT SECURITY SITUATION AND ALLEGATIONS OF MISTREATMENT
Mr Speaker, first of all I would like to bring the House
up to date in relation to the current security situation
in Iraq.
Recent
weeks have seen British forces, our coalition allies,
and the Iraqi police, facing violent attacks in southern
Iraq. This weekend saw the most violence so far, with
more than 100 engagements between violent insurgents
and coalition forces. Eleven British soldiers and one
Dane were injured in these clashes. Our forces have
captured a very large quantity of arms and ammunition
from the Muqtada militia. The insurgents are armed with
mortars, rocket propelled grenades, and a wealth of
automatic weapons. We have captured 10 multi-launch
rocket tubes, and 300 mortar rounds and 3 wire-guided
missiles over this weekend.
This
upsurge in violence appears to have followed calls at
some Friday prayers for attacks against the coalition.
Many of those who responded have a violent and criminal
background that pre-dates the arrival of the coalition
in Iraq last year. They are thugs, not freedom fighters.
They do not enjoy the support of the majority of people
in Iraq, who welcome the strong security action we are
taking. These attacks against Iraqis and Iraqi institutions
are a challenge to the rule of law, an attempt to disrupt
reconstruction efforts and an attempt to deliberately
damage the transition to a democratic Iraq. No sensible
person can condone these attacks – everyone should
support our efforts to deal with them in the interests
of the Iraqi people.
The
situation in both Basrah and Al Amarah remains tense,
but Iraqi police are patrolling and are engaged in other
security tasks. Further violence cannot be ruled out
in the coming days, British and Iraqi forces will continue
to confront such challenges. As ever, they will do so
with the minimum necessary use of force and with great
care to avoid an unnecessary impact on the wider population.
Mr
Speaker, last week my Rt Hon Friend the Minister for
Armed Forces made a statement about allegations of abuse
by UK Forces in Iraq. I would like to deal with developments
since that statement.
There
have been further details and images of abuse by US
Forces, and further claims against British soldiers
published mainly in the Daily Mirror. Last week my Rt
Hon Friend made clear that if allegations are found
to be true then those responsible for damaging the otherwise
excellent reputation of our Armed Forces will be rooted
out and will be dealt with.
The
unauthorised actions of a very few must not be allowed
to undermine the outstanding work of tens of thousands
of British soldiers and civilians who have served with
distinction, compassion and sensitivity in Iraq now
for over a year.
We
regret the shadow that has been cast across the excellent
work being undertaken, under very difficult circumstances
to establish security and to rebuild Iraq.
The
UK requires its Forces to act, at all times, within
UK law, which means that they must comply with the Geneva
Convention and International Humanitarian Law. Allegations
of improper behaviour will be thoroughly investigated.
We are not in any way complacent about such allegations.
The 33 cases of Iraqi civilian deaths, injuries and
ill-treatment which my Rt Hon Friend mentioned last
week that have been or are under investigation, testify
to our determination. As he mentioned, 15 resulted in
no case to answer and 6 cases are continuing. These
investigations were not begun in response to the ICRC,
to Amnesty or as the result of media pressure. We investigate
ourselves through the Royal Military Police Special
Investigations Branch immediately evidence is to hand.
In
these investigations it is essential that the integrity
of the criminal justice process is maintained. This
can involve detailed and lengthy processes, but these
are crucial to allow the necessary impartial evaluation
of the evidence. I can confirm today that two cases
have reached an advanced stage with decisions on prosecution
pending.
Obviously
it is important that the legal processes should be completed
independently, but I do want to say on behalf of the
British Government that we unreservedly apologise to
any Iraqis where the evidence shows they have been mistreated
– whether as Amnesty have set out in recent correspondence,
during the general interactions between British troops
and Iraqi citizens on the ground in Iraq – or in
the more specific issues raised by the ICRC about Iraqis
detained in British controlled facilities.
The
confidential report from the ICRC to Ambassador Bremer
in February dealt with detention issues. We have always
maintained a close and constructive relationship with
ICRC in Iraq. My Rt Hon Friend the Minister of State
for the Armed Forces had a meeting with Dr Jacob Kellenburger,
ICRC President, in May last year, and officials in the
Ministry of Defence met the ICRC in April 2004.
It
has been the practice of the ICRC to keep these reports
confidential – not simply to maintain a positive
working relationship between governments and the ICRC,
but also to protect those mentioned in the reports.
It is important that this confidentiality is respected.
Roland
Huguenin-Benjamin of ICRC said at the weekend, “We
usually do this in direct confidential contact with
the detaining power. We do not believe very much that
there is a lot of interest for the prisoners themselves
of having those kind of issues exposed in the public
domain”.
The
interim report in February dealt with ICRC visits to
coalition facilities between March and November last
year. It raised three specific concerns in respect of
British forces’ treatment of prisoners and internees.
Since these issues are already in the public domain,
it is appropriate for me to comment further.
The
first is in respect of the death in custody of Baha
Mousa, also known as Baha Maliki, in September last
year. A Royal Military Police investigation was launched
at that time. The case has featured frequently in the
media since then and was raised by the Hon Member for
Carmarthen East during an adjournment debate in January
this year. It was also the subject of an Amnesty International
letter writing campaign. My Rt Honourable Friend the
Minister of State for the Armed Forces wrote to Amnesty
about the case on 11 November 2003, and again on 27
January of this year. It follows that, by the time the
ICRC referred to the case in their interim February
report, a thorough investigation was already well under
way and the Government had made frequent public comment
about it.
The
second concern raised by the ICRC relevant to the UK
was in respect of the routine hooding of prisoners.
This practice had already ceased in UK facilities from
September last year, and this change had also been confirmed
publicly.
In
the third case a detainee had claimed that his car was
confiscated. We were not able to shed light on the case.
This individual was briefed on our claims procedure
and provided with a claim form, but nothing more has
been heard from him.
The
interim ICRC report itself was not seen by Ministers
until very recently. This was because it was an interim
report to Ambassador Bremer passed to the UK in strict
confidence. A follow on UK specific report was in any
event anticipated; and in the cases relevant to UK forces,
the action necessary to address the ICRC’s concerns
had been taken some five months before the report was
actually issued. In February therefore officials at
PJHQ judged that there was no action that Ministers
needed to take at least until any further reports were
received. Essentially because all of the material it
contained relevant to UK had already been dealt with.
Since
the programme of ICRC visits last year, we have opened
a new Divisional Temporary Detention Facility in southern
Iraq. The ICRC visited the site before it opened, have
visited twice since – in February and April –
and are due to visit again next week. We remain committed
to consultation with the ICRC, and comply fully with
ICRC requests for access. The ICRC have yet to submit
a formal report to the Government in respect of the
two visits they have carried out, but have provided
working reports to our forces in theatre. It is fair
to say that the ICRC are generally satisfied with our
approach and that they described conditions of internment
as “fairly good”. We will obviously continue
to work closely with them to ensure prisoners’
concerns are addressed. In the light of recent publications
if ICRC were willing to publish the report the UK would
had absolutely no objection.
There
have in addition been recent representations made by
a number of other groups, including Amnesty International
making allegations about incidents, some which the Ministry
of Defence was not previously aware of. These incidents
do not involve allegations about detainees. We will
always take any such credible allegations seriously.
Consequently, at the beginning of March, we began the
process of a thorough trawl of the records of units,
produced in Iraq since the commencement of operations
last year. This is a considerable task which we expect
to last a few more weeks yet. But I can assure the House
that if it reveals further examples of incidents that
merit formal investigation, then those investigations
will follow. And in turn, if British forces are found
to have acted unlawfully, then the appropriate legal
action will be taken. That has happened in every case
so far.
Those
thorough and detailed investigations have also been
necessary in relation to the photographs published by
the Daily Mirror some days ago. Those photographs are
central to accusations concerning the behaviour of British
troops, in particular, the Queen's Lancashire Regiment.
I
can tell the House that as a result of those further
investigations the SIB have informed me that there are
strong indications that the vehicle in which the photographs
were taken was not in Iraq during the relevant period.
Additional lines of inquiry are being pursued to corroborate
this fact.
The
SIB have interviewed at length the soldier described
by the Daily Mirror as “Soldier C”. We are
grateful to “Soldier C” for coming forward.
However, I can assure the House that the allegation
at the centre of his evidence which is once again the
case of Baha Mousa has already been investigated and
the case is currently with the Army Legal Services for
consideration. When interviewed by the RMP “Soldier
C” did not have any new evidence to add to what
was already known as the results of our own investigations.
Indeed as I have already mentioned these allegations
were widely covered in other newspapers many months
ago – I leave it to the House to judge why they
have been recycled in this way.
Mr
Speaker, in conclusion we are determined to see through
the task in Iraq according to standards of behaviour
set out in the Geneva Convention and in International
Humanitarian Law. We will not hesitate to act where
these high standards are not followed, and we will investigate
when serious allegations are brought to our attention.
But
we should not lose sight of the fact that thousands
of our service personnel continue to serve their country
with great distinction in Iraq and around the world.
We are all appalled at the allegations made against
an unrepresentative small number, but that will not
diminish our admiration, our respect and our pride in
those that continue to serve their country with such
distinction.
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