UK jails 3 for Iraq abuse, questions remain
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-26 08:46

Britain jailed three soldiers on Friday for abusing Iraqi detainees, but faced questions over why it failed to punish anyone for forcing prisoners to simulate sex acts in photos that echoed Abu Ghraib.

The chief of Britain's army, General Sir Mike Jackson, apologized to the victims and the Iraqi people, and announced an inquiry into lessons that could be learned.

A newspaper embarrassed the authorities by locating victims that prosecutors had failed to find in a 20-month probe.

This photograph entered into evidence 18 January, 2005 at the Court Martial of three soldiers from the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers in Osnabrueck, Germany, shows Lance corporal Darren Larkin standing on an Iraqi detainee and corporal Daniel Kenyon taking a photograph in the rear. Three British soldiers were jailed for abusing Iraqi civilians in a case that has drawn comparisons with US mistreatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison. [AFP/File]

Prisoners in the photos were stripped naked and forced to simulate anal and oral sex, mirroring notorious pictures of abuse taken by U.S. troops at the Abu Ghraib jail.

"When you abused the power that you had over them as you did, you cannot expect much leniency," Judge Advocate Michael Hunter told the men. "What you have done is so serious that we would be failing in our duties if we did not impose substantial sentences and dismiss you all (from the army) with disgrace."

A courtroom drawing shows British soldiers Cpl. Daniel Kenyon, second left, Lance Cpl. Mark Cooley, left, and Lance Cpl. Darrien Larkin, right, in the courtroom of the British Court Centre in Osnabrueck, northern Germany, Friday, Feb. 25 2005. A military jury convicted three British servicemen on charges of involvement in abusing Iraqi civilians. The panel of seven senior officers found them guilty after a month-long trial at the British base in Germany. Name of the person, second right, is not available. [AP]

All were expelled from the army in disgrace.

But the five-week trial at a base in Germany found no one to punish for staging the sex photos, the worst abuse in the case.

NO EVIDENCE PRESENTED

None of the other soldiers in the unit provided evidence to prove who posed the sex pictures, and prosecutors said Iraqi victims could not be found to testify who had abused them.

But Britain's Independent newspaper said it had found four Iraqi victims within 48 hours, all within a mile of the base.

"They made us do things that were bad. We refused but they hit us. I feel ashamed by what they made us do," Ali Radhi Kassim, who appeared in one picture forced to pose naked simulating anal sex with another prisoner, told the paper.

"They treated us very badly. This is our country but they treated us like animals," said Hassan Kardham Adulhussein, who identified himself as the man stomped upon by Larkin. All said they were severely beaten and some suffered broken bones.

General Jackson offered no explanation for why investigators failed to locate the Iraqi victims.

"I am advised the military police went to great lengths to track down those who had been abused in this incident," he said. "I cannot surmise why those Iraqi civilians did not come forward to the military police but chose to come forward to a reporter."

Questions were also raised about the failure to charge commanding officers. One major acknowledged during the trial he had violated the Geneva Conventions by ordering that suspected looters be "worked hard." Defense lawyers said the low-ranked soldiers were scapegoats for failures of their commanders.

The abuse pictures came to light after another soldier, Gary Bartlam, brought his film to a photo shop in Britain to be developed and technicians alerted the police. He received an 18-month sentence for taking the pictures and aiding in the forklift incident, after pleading guilty at an earlier trial.

But sex abuse charges against him were lifted in return for testimony against the others, which failed to yield a single sex abuse conviction.

Bartlam's photos were taken earlier than the photos which led to the U.S. military's scandal at Abu Ghraib. But when they were made public during the trial this month the similar sexual content made comparison unavoidable.

During the trial Prime Minister Tony Blair said he was appalled, prompting the defense to call for a mistrial.

British military prosecutors are taking action in four other cases of alleged abuse of civilians.