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律師在伊拉克要求英國的政府酷刑被批准的系統的政策
星期五， 2007年6月22日
由保羅・ Mitchell 律師聲稱英國的政府在伊拉克批准了一項系統的政策被拘留者酷刑。 要求被法律閣下在6月13日在上議院裡跟隨一個判決？高等法院在英國？在 AlSkeini和其他v國務卿為防禦 案件。 案件由2003年在被英國佔領的巴士拉死的六口之家伊拉克平民帶來。 其中一個死者， Baha Mousa，死在英國的監管，當英國戰士在巡邏擊出其他五時。 Mousa，一位26年老接待員，與其他一起在女王/王后被扣留了和涉嫌被拷打了由戰士？s Lancashire軍團在英國？s臨時拘留設施。 這說用沙袋介入了hooding，保留重音位置長期，睡眠剝奪和被服從到kickboxing ？比賽， ？ 那裡戰士競爭看多遠他們可能被踢。 相片和紀錄顯示Mousa遭受了93個傷害，包括四塊殘破的肋骨，一個破碎的鼻子、搗毀的腕子和繃帶在他的脖子上。 根據一個證人， ？我聽見了Baha Mousa尖叫。 我戴頭巾，但聽起來，如他在另一個室。 我聽見他尖叫： ？請幫助我，血液出來，請幫助我，我死。？ 我聽見的最後事他說是： ？我的鼻子打破了。？ 在此以後有沈默。？ 在2004年2月，國際紅十字？表達的關心？ 到英國的政府在治療給予了對是的Mousa和其他被拘留者？做下跪，面對和手反對地面，好像在禱告位置…. 戰士在那些的脖子的後面蓋印了培養他們的頭的。？ 顯示的身體檢查？大血腫與乾斑點病在腹部、屁股和邊、大腿、腕子、鼻子和前額一致與拍打他們的帳戶。？ 法律閣下？ 2004年評斷證實一個高等法院判決，由政府反對。 Mousa?s family and the relatives of the five other Iraqis had argued that the government was in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the UK Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) by not conducting an independent inquiry into the deaths. They added that such an inquiry was made even more necessary because coalition personnel enjoyed complete immunity from prosecution under Coalition Provisional Authority Order 17. The government argued that the ECHR only applied to Europe and was not applicable to British troops in Iraq, and that the HRA only applied in UK territory. In their judgement, the Law Lords ruled that that there must be a full independent inquiry whenever detainees such as Mousa suffer inhuman treatment, torture or death whilst detained in UK military establishments anywhere in the world. However, they also agreed with the High Court that because the other five Iraqis were not in custody and their shootings had occurred on Iraq territory, which was outside UK jurisdiction, their case was therefore ?outside the scope of the convention and the Act.? Their case is now to be taken to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Des Browne, the defence secretary, welcomed the Law Lords ruling, saying it provided ?helpful clarification of the precise legal framework under which UK forces operated overseas.? He claimed, ?We have never argued that the treatment of Baha Mousa was acceptable or that his death should not have been investigated,? but he continued to refer to the Mousa?s treatment as ?an unlawful conditioning process? rather than torture. Following the Law Lords? ruling, lawyer Phil Shiner representing the Mousa family repeated his calls for an independent inquiry. He told the Times that the government had tried to cover up the ?shocking new revelations? during a court martial of those involved in Mousa?s death that revealed that the government and the top army brass were ?complicit in a systematic policy of torturing detainees in British military custody.? At the court martial at Camp Bulford in southern England earlier this year, Corporal Donald Payne of the Queen?s Lancashire regiment pleaded guilty to inhumane treatment and was jailed for a year and dismissed from the army, making him Britain?s first convicted war criminal. Six other soldiers, including the former commander of the regiment, Col. Jorge Mendonca, had their cases thrown out amid claims that there were gaps in the evidence and that some key suspects did not appear at the trial. Shiner explained, ?To date the UK Government has managed to suppress much of this material, including all the bundles of documents and evidence from the court martial, and a shocking video showing hooded and cuffed detainees being verbally and physically abused as they were man-handled into the UK?s preferred stress position.? Shiner added, ?We?re not just talking about nuanced degrading treatment, this is torture by any definition of that word…. And we?re not just talking about torture, we?re talking about the techniques the Heath government banned, such as hooding, sleep deprivation, stressing, food deprivation and white noise.? According to Shiner the ban brought in by Edward Heath?s Conservative government in 1972 during the crisis in North Ireland was overturned after the government?s chief law officer, Attorney General Lord Peter Goldsmith, declared that the HRA did not apply abroad and thus lower legal standards were permitted. The Defence, Intelligence and Security Centre at Chicksands in central England became the centre for training in these techniques. As a result, it became standard practice to hood detainees in Iraq using sandbags and plastic cement bags. And there was ?huge resistance at the highest levels? to stopping the practice because of pressure from the US. Shiner also criticised army doctors who certified that detainees were fit to withstand ill-treatment and actually initiated it. He concluded by saying, ?The implications of this case are enormous.? Shami Chakrabarti of Liberty, one of the human rights groups that initiated the court cases, commented, ?The significance of this decision is that individual soldiers cannot be left as scapegoats and left to carry the can for the failures of our government and our military high command…. [T]he Human Rights Act protects anyone detained by British authorities anywhere in the world.? Further hearings are likely following the Al-Skeini ruling. A number of cases involve abuses committed at Camp Breadbasket in May 2003 by soldiers in the 1st Battalion, the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. They detained Iraqis who had been looting and then beat them, forced them to simulate oral and anal sex and suspended them from a forklift truck. Martyn Day, a lawyer acting for the claimants, said, ?There are 10 cases being prepared in relation to Camp Breadbasket and a further 20 claims relating to a variety of allegations of abuse committed by soldiers in other parts of southern Iraq.? Have Your Say: Lawyers claim British government approved systematic policy of torture in Iraq Please read our posting guidelines before posting. Alternatively you can discuss this report here. Related News
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