British troops face mistreatment allegations
British soldiers in Iraq have been questioned by British army investigators over the deaths of two Iraqi prisoners, it was confirmed today.
The two civilians were being held by the Black Watch regiment at a detention centre in Basra when they died, the UK's Daily Mail reported.
The British Ministry of Defence confirmed that the military police’s Special Investigation Branch had opened an inquiry into the deaths which were understood to have occurred on two separate days last month.
The Daily Mail quoted the father of one unnamed Black Watch soldier as saying that the deaths had been “the talk of the camp”.
“My son phoned me and was very upset about what he said had happened,” he was quoted as saying.
“It seemed this man had been ‘roughed up’ and died in custody. A number of the soldiers are extremely upset.”
In a separate incident, The Sun disclosed that two British soldiers had been ordered out of Iraq after the alleged beating of Iraqi prisoners of war.
The men, whose regiment has not been revealed, were thought to have been flown to their barracks in Germany.
It is understood the allegations involve a prisoner being punched in the face and given a black eye.
The British MoD spokeswoman said: “We can confirm that an alleged incident has been reported involving the beating of Iraqi PoWs.
“Two soldiers have been returned to barracks pending an investigation.
“We would take a very dim view of poor treatment of PoWs and if the case is found to be answered, we will act accordingly.”
The allegations emerged just days after military police questioned a British soldier in custody over photographs which allegedly showed troops “torturing” Iraqi PoWs.
Photograph developers in Staffordshire called police after they became concerned about a number of pictures on a roll of film that had been handed in to their shop for processing.
One of the images allegedly showed an Iraqi PoW gagged and bound, hanging in netting from a forklift truck driven by a British soldier.
A further SIB investigation is also under way into Colonel Tim Collins, who led the Royal Irish Regiment in Iraq, over allegations by a US reserve officer that he mistreated Iraqis.
