Updated:13:42, Friday February 22, 2008

British troops have been accused of executing as many as 20 Iraqi civilians after a gun battle.
Lawyers say prisoners may also have been tortured and mutilated by members of the UK military.

The MoD denies the claimsThey produced a dossier of evidence from five men taken captive after the battle near the southern Iraqi town of Majat-al-Kabir in May 2004.

Solicitor Phil Shiner said: "We would be very surprised if it did not shock the nation."

The allegations were first reported within weeks of the incident, known as the Battle of Danny Boy after a checkpoint where it took place.

But lawyers for the five Iraqis, said to be innocent labourers, have now issued detailed witness statements, photographs of corpses and death certificates of the men who died.

Mr Shiner and another solicitor, Martyn Day, suggested prisoners captured after the three-hour gun battle may have been taken to a British base at Abu Naji and killed.

They are bringing a damages claim in the UK courts. They say many injuries - such as eyes being gouged out - were not consistent with battlefield wounds.

A spokesman for the MoD said: "Allegations of mistreatment, unlawful killing and mutilation by British troops following an incident at Vehicle Checkpoint Danny Boy were thoroughly investigated by the RMP.

"Their investigation lasted 10 months, involved the interviewing of over 150 British personnel and 50 Iraqi nationals, and found no evidence to support these allegations.

"New allegations are part of an ongoing RMP investigation and judicial review and it would be inappropriate to comment further."

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1306478,00.html?f=rss

British troops executed 20 captives in southern Iraq, say lawyersFred Attewill and agencies guardian.co.uk, Friday February 22 2008 Article history · Contact us Contact usClose Report errors or inaccuracies: userhelp@guardian.co.uk Letters for publication should be sent to: letters@guardian.co.uk If you need help using the site: userhelp@guardian.co.uk Call the main Guardian and Observer switchboard:
+44 (0)20 7278 2332 Advertising guide License/buy our content About this articleClose This article was first published on guardian.co.uk on Friday February 22 2008. It was last updated at 12:15 on February 22 2008.British troops may have executed up to 20 captives in southern Iraq in 2004, human rights lawyers claimed today.

A dossier of evidence from men taken captive after a gun battle near the Iraqi town of Majat-al-Kabir in May 2004 also suggested soldiers tortured and mutilated captives.

Lawyers for five Iraqis today issued detailed witness statements, photographs of corpses and death certificates of the men who died. The allegations first emerged within weeks of the incident and have since been investigated by the Royal Military Police.

The claims, which the Ministry of Defence denies, are among the most serious yet levelled against British soldiers who served in Iraq.

Solicitor Phil Shiner said: "There is the clearest evidence available of systematic abuse and systematic failings at the very highest levels of politicians, the civil service and the military."

He added: "Until we as a nation face up to this evidence we cannot hope for the fundamental reforms required to ensure these things can never happen again.

"We do not want to be talked about in the same vein as the Japanese in the second world war or the Americans at My Lai, but unless we stand up and say as a nation that this cannot happen in our name, that is where we seem to be headed."

Shiner and his colleague, Martyn Day, suggested prisoners captured after the three-hour gun battle may have been taken to a British base at Abu Naji and killed.

Detailed witness statements from the five men - Hussein Jabbari Ali, Hussain Fadhil Abass, Atiyah Sayid Abdelreza, Madhi Jassim Abdullah and Ahmad Jabber Ahmood - described what they heard while in detention, when they were handcuffed and forced to wear blacked-out goggles.

The statements described hearing other men screaming and choking as well as the sound of gunfire.

Abdelreza's statement read: "I believed people were being killed. I have never heard anything like that sound ever before in my life. It shocked me and filled me with such terror."

The lawyers, who are bringing a damages claim in the UK courts, say the five witnesses are labourers who have lived all their lives in Majar and had "absolutely nothing" to do with the Shia Mahdi army, who engaged British troops in the gun battle.

Day said: "The nature of a number of the injuries of the Iraqis would seem to us to be highly unusual in a battlefield.

"For example, quite how so many of the Iraqis sustained single gunshots to the head and from seemingly at close quarter, how did two of them end with their eyes gouged out, how did one have his penis cut off (and) some have torture wounds?"

The solicitors called for an ongoing investigation by the RMP to be taken over by Scotland Yard.

An MoD spokesman said: "Allegations of mistreatment, unlawful killing and mutilation by British troops following an incident at Vehicle Checkpoint Danny Boy were thoroughly investigated by the RMP.

"Their investigation lasted 10 months, involved the interviewing of over 150 British personnel and 50 Iraqi nationals, and found no evidence to support these allegations.

"New allegations are part of an ongoing RMP investigation and judicial review and it would be inappropriate to comment further."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/feb/22/military.iraq