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Iraq

Answer

[holding answer 21 October 2005]: Commanders in the field have full authority to take action to protect life. On 19 September, a day of fast moving events, the Ministry of Defence was consulted throughout. The acting commander of British forces in MND (SE) was able to take the difficult decision to mount the operation to enter the police station in the knowledge that he had the full support of the chain of command. The two British soldiers arrested in Basrah on 19 September by the Iraqi Police Service are both UK nationals and were not carrying the passports of any other nation.The car that the two British soldiers were travelling in was not seized. Although some of the personal equipment worn or carried by the British soldiers was removed by the Iraqi Police Service, most was recovered. All the equipment subsequently found in the police station was retrieved.Due to the difficulty in obtaining reliable information it is not our policy to comment on civilian casualties. In this case, although we are aware of media reports, we have not been provided with any evidence relating to the deaths of Iraqis.The Ministry of Defence has well-established procedures for handling claims for compensation in Multi-National Division (South East) and indeed any other theatre in which we operate. If there are any legitimate claims for negligence that arise out of the events of 19 September, they will be considered in the normal way.I am aware of serious allegations of prisoner abuse at the Jameat including two alleged deaths in custody. UK support to the Iraqi Police Service in Basrah and elsewhere is designed among other things to enhance police governance, accountability and respect for human rights. We take this very seriously. We have been pressing the Iraqi authorities very hard in both Basrah and Baghdad to investigate these allegations thoroughly and then to take appropriate action and we will continue to do so.The Iraqi Government have said that the two soldiers were arrested because the Iraqi Police Service initially believed them to be terrorists and they were not able to immediately confirm their status as British soldiers. Having confirmed their identity we were extremely concerned when they were not released in accordance with Iraqi law. We have subsequently agreed with the Iraqi Government that in future any such incident will be dealt with in accordance with the relevant articles of Iraqi law, which affirm that the UK retains sole jurisdiction over its armed forces personnel.We never received a formal request from either Basrah's principal council or the Iraqi Government to hand the individuals over to the Iraqi authorities. Furthermore an Iraqi judicial inquiry concluded that under Iraqi law there were no grounds for such action, given the immunity of Multinational forces personnel from the Iraqi legal process.British forces were fully within their rights to act in the way they did and I fully support their actions.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

20833; 439 c854-6W;439 c855-6W

Session

2005-06

Subjects

Compensation Armed forces Arrests Casualties Civilians Iraq Prisoners Prisons Peacekeeping operations Staff Torture Basra Military intelligence