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Claim UK troops 'executed' Iraqis Claim UK troops 'executed' Iraqis
(about 2 hours later)
A group of lawyers is to publish evidence that they claim will prove Iraqi prisoners were executed by British troops. Lawyers are claiming that up to 20 Iraqi prisoners were executed by British troops after a gun battle.
Some alleged survivors of the gun battle near the southern Iraqi town of Majat-al-Kabir will also claim that corpses were mutilated by UK military. Some alleged survivors of the gun battle near the southern Iraqi town of Majat-al-Kabir also claim that corpses were mutilated by UK military.
The incident - known as the Battle of Danny Boy after a checkpoint - took place in May 2004. Solicitor Phil Shiner said: "We would be very surprised if [the evidence] did not shock the nation."
The claims are strongly denied by the Ministry of Defence. All claims of any kind of abuse by British troops have been strongly denied by the Ministry of Defence.
Mutilation claims The fighting - known as the Battle of Danny Boy after a checkpoint - took place in May 2004.
The allegations were first reported a month after the fighting, but lawyers acting for the survivors said full details would be published for the first time on Friday. Torture claims
They will suggest that prisoners taken after the three-hour gun battle were moved to a British base at Abu Naji and killed. The allegations were first reported a month after the fighting, but lawyers acting for the survivors said this was the first time full details had been published.
Allegations of mistreatment, unlawful killing and mutilation by British troops following an incident at Vehicle Checkpoint Danny Boy were thoroughly investigated by military police MoD Lawyers Mr Shiner and Martyn Day suggested that prisoners taken after the three-hour gun battle were moved to a British base at Abu Naji and killed.
During an application for a judicial review connected with the case at the High Court last month, the court heard corpses showed signs of mutilation when they were removed from Abu Naji to a local hospital. 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 Phil Shiner
According to death certificates written by the director of the hospital to which the corpses were delivered, a 37-year-old man, Ali al Jemindari, had his right arm severed and an eye gouged out. The two lawyers also published written statements of five alleged survivors of the incident and other material at a London press conference.
But the court heard that another doctor at the hospital said the injuries were consistent with a gun battle. The five men - Hussein Jabbari Ali, Hussain Fadhil Abass, Atiyah Sayid Abdelreza, Madhi Jassim Abdullah and Ahmad Jabber Ahmood - had described what they heard while in detention.
Lawyers Phil Shiner and Martyn Day are to publish written statements of five alleged survivors of the incident, photographs of the dead, death certificates and other material at a London press conference. The statements described how they heard other men screaming, moaning in pain and choking and also the sound of gunfire.
They also allege that they were cuffed and forced to wear blacked-out goggles.
'Unusual injuries'
Mr Abdelreza's statement said: "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 are bringing a damages claim in the UK courts, and say the five witnesses are labourers from Majar with "absolutely nothing" to do with the insurgent Mehdi army, who engaged British troops at the Battle of Danny Boy.
Showing images of corpses from the battle, Mr 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?"
Both lawyers are calling for the current investigation by the Royal Military Police (RMP) to be taken over by Scotland Yard.
"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," said Mr Shiner.
Documentary investigationDocumentary investigation
The claims are being examined by the BBC's Panorama programme on Monday.The claims are being examined by the BBC's Panorama programme on Monday.
A BBC spokesman said: "Panorama has spent over a year talking to battlefield survivors, medical staff and Iraqi former prisoners in Iraq, Turkey and Jordan.A BBC spokesman said: "Panorama has spent over a year talking to battlefield survivors, medical staff and Iraqi former prisoners in Iraq, Turkey and Jordan.
"The programme critically examines claims made by lawyers who are representing the Iraqis in their action against the British government."The programme critically examines claims made by lawyers who are representing the Iraqis in their action against the British government.
"Of all the allegations they make, the programme concludes that the evidence is strongest that prisoners were mistreated."Of all the allegations they make, the programme concludes that the evidence is strongest that prisoners were mistreated.
"Panorama has seen no proof that prisoners died at the hands of their captors at or after the Battle of Danny Boy.""Panorama has seen no proof that prisoners died at the hands of their captors at or after the Battle of Danny Boy."
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 [Royal Military Police]. 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."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 (SIB) investigation and judicial review and it would be inappropriate to comment further." "New allegations are part of an ongoing RMP (Special Investigation Branch) investigation and judicial review and it would be inappropriate to comment further."