Iraq: Purported victims of abuse demand compensation
Anger over the alleged abuse of Iraqis by British forces prompted Basra Provincial Council to sever relations with the British on Tuesday, while two purported victims demanded compensation from London.
The council governing Basra province, which neighbours Maysan province where the alleged 2004 abuses in the city of Amarah occurred, announced all government authorities suspended ties with the British military and consulate operating in the area.
Basra council also demanded the 530-member Danish contingent withdraw from southern Iraq unless the Danish government apologises for the caricatures of Prophet Mohammed deemed insulting by Muslims which appeared in Danish and other newspapers.
The outrage over the alleged British abuse and prophet cartoons has damaged relations with US-led coalition forces at a time when foreign governments are either intending or trying to withdraw their troops from Iraq.
“All governmental offices will cut all kinds of relations with the British forces and they will not cooperate with them until further notice,” Basra council said in a statement.
Basra council official Nadhim al-Jabiri said the decision includes ending cooperation with the British consulate in Basra.
Basra police chief Maj Gen. Hassan Suwadi said all Iraqi security forces would stop conducting joint-patrols with the British military in the entire province as a result of the alleged Amarah abuses.
“We condemn the abuse of the British forces and demand the British government to adopt legal procedures as soon as possible to punish its soldiers who carried out the abuse,” Suwaid told The Associated Press.
British military spokesman Capt James St John-Price said he was aware that Iraqi security forces had reduced the number of joint-patrols with British soldiers by at least half in Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city where most of Britain’s more than 8,000 troops are based.
“Decisions like these and reductions in patrols hinder the process of promoting security and economic reform and merely work to the detriment of the people of Basra,” St John-Price said. He added that British officials are trying to persuade Basra authorities to reverse their decisions.
Video footage first obtained by the News of the World, and released on Sunday has sparked condemnations across the Middle East and Britain.
The British military has launched an investigation and at least one man has been detained in relation to the probe.
At least two Iraqis claiming to have been beaten by British soldiers told reporters in a press conference organised by the office of anti-coalition forces cleric Muqtada al-Sadr that they would take legal action against the British military and seek compensation.
It was not immediately possible to verify whether the Iraqis were those shown in the footage allegedly taken by a British soldier showing several males being punched, beaten with batons and kicked following a protest over a lack of jobs in Amarah.
“I was one of 250 unemployed people demonstrating in the street in 2004, but when we reached the governor’s office we were surprised by the presence of the British forces,” said Bassem Shaker, 27. “We started throwing stones at them because we believed that they were behind all our misery.”
At the time of the January 10, 2004 protest, the British military said shots were heard coming from among hundreds of protesters who had gathered in front of the office of the US-led coalition to demand jobs, and that Iraqi police, thinking they were under attack, opened fire.
Witnesses and officials said that British troops and Iraqi police had fired at armed, stone-throwing protesters, killing six people and wounding 11.
British soldiers from the 1st Battalion of the Light Infantry, which were based in Amarah at the time, were seen moving in with armoured vehicles to support the police, according to witness reports at the time. Assailants in the crowd lobbed three explosive devices at them, believed to be hand grenades, the British military reported later that day.
Speaking at the local al-Sadr office, Shaker said British troops fired volleys of rubber bullets at the protesters in a bid to disperse them.
“Then a group of British soldiers rushed out from their base and arrested nine of us, dragging us for about 30 metres to the governor’s office,” Shaker alleged.
“They were beating us with fists and batons and were kicking us. Then they cuffed our hands and also dragged us to their base, which is about 15 metres from the governor’s office, where they also beat us and frightened us with dogs before releasing us before sunset.”
Shaker said he didn’t report the abuse initially because he did not believe any officials would deal with their complaints because they involved British troops.
“But when we saw this tape and the amount of anger it caused inside and outside Iraq, we decided to come today to the al-Sadr office because we need them, after God, to help us to sue the British forces and compensate us.
“Those troops humiliated us and violated our rights to demand jobs.”
Al-Sadr official Sheikh Oda al-Bahrani said Shaker and 14-year-old Tariq Abdul-Razzak both claimed they had been beaten and requested help to sue the British military and seek compensation.
Al-Sadr has strong support throughout southern Iraq and has been demanding the withdrawal of coalition forces throughout the country. Along with presenting the alleged Iraqi abuse victims to reporters, al-Sadr supporters have staged multiple protests against caricatures of Prophet Muhammad deemed insulting to Muslim that have been published in Danish and other newspapers.
British spokesman St John-Price said a thorough investigation would be held into the abuse allegations, but it was unclear if British forces would try to interview those purporting to be victims.
British-Iraqi relations in Basra have suffered in recent weeks amid protests over British arrests of local policemen linked to militia-related killings and kidnappings and British security control over Basra International Airport.
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