New Allegations against British Soldiers to Go to Int'l Criminal Court


New Allegations against British Soldiers to Go to Int'l Criminal Court

TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Hundreds of new cases accusing British soldiers of abusing – in many cases torturing – Iraqi men, women and children, aged from 13 to 101, are to be considered by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Britain is already under scrutiny for alleged war crimes committed by its forces in Iraq.

The ICC is currently examining a dossier of claims presented by lawyers and human rights campaigners earlier this year that could lead to a full investigation.

The fresh details come on the eve of the publication of an official report into allegations that British soldiers mistreated and unlawfully killed Iraqis in 2004, the Independent reported.

The report, to be released on Wednesday, is expected to criticise the abuse of Iraqi prisoners captured after a battle. A number of "warning letters" have been sent to individuals believed to face criticism in the report.

The revelations will fuel the row surrounding official British knowledge of the use of torture to obtain intelligence from suspected insurgents and terrorists. Pressure is mounting on David Cameron to order a full judicial inquiry into what Britain knew about torture by America's CIA and other allies fighting al-Qaeda-inspired terror.

Yesterday, the SNP called for a full judicial inquiry to examine the UK government's role in extraordinary rendition and for the findings of the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war to be made public.

SNP Defence spokesperson Angus Robertson MP said: "Despite the appalling findings of the US Senate report about inhumane treatment of detainees, we have seen no urgency from the UK government to get to the truth on this matter.

A full judicial inquiry must now be established to determine what the UK government knew about the flights that passed through airports in the UK, including Scotland, and whether ministers were aware of the human rights abuses that we now know may have occurred in this country."

The latest cases being sent this week to the ICC in The Hague as well as to the Ministry of Defence's Service Prosecuting Authority include harrowing accounts covering a five-year period, from 2003 to 2008.

The allegations, in court documents obtained by this newspaper, highlight a systematic approach of beating and hooding before brutal interrogations; these actions took place after ministers had claimed that such methods were no longer being used by British forces in Iraq.

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