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Ministry of Defence

Answer

Sir Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many persons captured by UK forces in Iraq and subsequently transferred to US control are being held by the United States (a) inside and (b) outside Iraq; and if he will make a statement on the UK's obligations towards such persons. [172697] Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps the Government has taken in fulfilment of the UK's international obligations to assess the conditions of imprisonment of the prisoners captured by British forces in Iraq and handed to the US. [183784] Mr. Ingram: [holding answer 17 May 2004]: In Iraq, 341 Prisoners of War were handed over to the United States in April 2003, all but three were subsequently released by the US. Two, classed as high value detainees, have now been arraigned before an Iraqi judge and transferred to Iraqi custody and one was reclassified as a security internee and his case is under consideration by the Central Criminal Court of Iraq. We have also detained around 2,000 security internees since the end of the conflict. Between April 2003 and December 2003, these were held by the US. All but one of those individuals were either returned to United Kingdom custody or released. Under the terms of a Memorandum of Understanding we put in place with the US, which covered the transfer of detainees, the US are required to seek permission from the UK to remove from Iraq UK captured persons in their detention. No such requests have been made. The UK has fulfilled all its obligations towards such individuals in accordance with the Geneva Conventions. Between May and December 2003 almost all UK detainees, both Prisoners of War and security internees, were held by US Forces at Camp Bucca in Southern Iraq. During this period there was a continuous UK presence at the Camp in the shape of a UK Prisoner of War Registration Unit and a Prisoner Monitoring Team. The monitoring team regularly inspected prisoner conditions and monitored family visits and the release of UK prisoners. The majority of early detainees were released during this period. The remainder were transferred to the UK custody with the opening of the UK's Divisional Temporary Detention Facility at Shaibah in December 2003. The two UK prisoners of war, classed as high value detainees, were held by US forces at a different site. Although the UK did not maintain a permanent presence at the internment facility where they were held, reports were obtained on their conditions.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

424 c724-5W;424 c715-6W; 183784

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Detainees Iraq Prisoners Prisons Peacekeeping operations Location Standards USA

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk