UN Probes Reports Of British Torture In Iraq

by Gustavo Capdevila

(IPS) GENEVA -- The British government has submitted a report to the UN Committee Against Torture on 17 possible cases of torture committed by its troops in Iraq, a source close to the committee told IPS.

The British authorities were responding to a request for information made by the Committee to both Britain and the United States, the two principal members of the coalition currently occupying Iraq, in light of the allegations of torture in Abu Ghraib prison, controlled by U.S. troops, and in other detention centers.

The report states that of the 17 possible cases of torture, eight have been dismissed. Investigation is ongoing in five cases, while three other denunciations are being examined by the authorities. One case has gone to trial.

In Afghanistan, where the British armed forces are part of a broader military alliance that has occupied the country since late 2001, no allegations of torture have been made with respect to British troops, according to the special report from London.

The Committee Against Torture is responsible for monitoring the implementation of the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. At its current session, which began Monday, it will be examining the situation in Argentina, Britain and Greece.

While all states that are parties to the convention must regularly report to the Committee every four years, special reports like the one submitted by Britain can be requested to examine specific denunciations.

Livio Zilli, an Amnesty International representative who is following the British case in the Committee, told IPS that he would prefer not to comment on the figures for alleged violations committed by British troops in Iraq, since these numbers were supplied to the UN by the British government.

Moreover, he pointed out, "This kind of investigation would not even be taking place if it weren't for the families of the Iraqi civilians killed by the British armed forces and the Iraqi human rights organizations that have reported these cases."

The investigation process is severely flawed, said Zilli, because it does not allow for an independent examination of the facts. Only one party is involved, and it is the very party that is implicated in the reports. In other words, the British army is investigating itself.

"This method does not meet the requirements of independence and impartiality," he said.

The report presented by Amnesty International to the Committee Against Torture on Tuesday catalogues the denunciations issued by the London-based human rights organization since May 2003, detailing alleged violations committed by the occupying forces in Iraq.

These violations include the torture, mistreatment and killings of detainees, all serious infractions of the Geneva Conventions, the international instruments that establish requirements for the treatment of prisoners of war and the protection of the civilian population in times of war.

Numerous former detainees interviewed by Amnesty International said that they were tortured or mistreated during the first days of their incarceration in Iraq.

Some reported that they were forced to remain lying down and handcuffed for long periods of time, wearing hoods or blindfolds.

Others were subjected to beatings, or forced to remain sitting or standing in painful positions, and deprived of sleep with deafeningly loud music and blindingly bright lights.

The cases brought to the Committee's attention by the Amnesty International report included that of Baha Dawud al-Maliki, one of eight Iraqi hotel workers who were arrested by British soldiers in Basra on Sep. 14, 2003.

All eight men were severely beaten during their detention, and three days after their arrest, al-Maliki's father was summoned to retrieve his body, which was covered in bruises and blood.

Amnesty International has repeatedly called on the British authorities to establish a civilian-directed mechanism to investigate suspicious deaths attributed to British troops.

The organization's report to the Committee Against Torture exposes "the grave violations of human rights" committed in the framework of the British government's response "to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 in the United States."

Zilli maintained that the British authorities are violating fundamental prohibitions against torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment.

Amnesty International's protests are aimed at both the British government and the country's legal system, because it violates the prohibition on using statements obtained through torture as evidence in court.

In addition to Britain's role in Iraq, the organization has also criticized the British government's failure to confront the issue of violations of the human rights of the prisoners being held by the United States at its naval base in Guantanamo Bay, on Cuban territory.

The Committee Against Torture will issue its recommendations regarding the case of Britain, as well as its findings on the situations in Argentina and Greece, next week.