Attorney General to charge four soldiers with Iraq abuse

By Jeremy Lovell

Britain is to court martial four soldiers from the Royal Fusiliers for abuse of Iraqi detainees, the Attorney-General has said.

"The charges against the four include assault, indecent assault which apparently involves making victims engage in sexual activity between themselves, and a military charge of prejudicing good order and military discipline," Lord Goldsmith said in a statement on Monday.

It said the abuse allegedly took place while the civilians were temporarily held, but not in a prison or detention centre.

"It involves photographic evidence developed in this country and referred to the UK police," it added.

The statement said the trial would be held in a military court and open to the public. No date had been set.

World opinion was horrified earlier this year when pictures of U.S. prison guards humiliating detainees and forcing them to perform sexual acts emerged from Baghdad’s infamous Abu Ghraib jail.

Within days the Daily Mirror printed pictures — later proven to be fakes — it said showed British troops abusing prisoners, with supporting testimony from anonymous troops who had served in Iraq.

Mirror editor Piers Morgan was sacked after the pictures were exposed as false.

The United States has already started courts martial against some of the soldiers involved in its jail abuse.

The case of the four soldiers will be the first British court martial since the U.S-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 to oust President Saddam Hussein.

Lord Goldsmith said the Army Prosecuting Authority, which acts outside the normal military chain of command, was considering three other cases of alleged abuse and aware of at least four others likely to come its way.

The Attorney-General is studying the case against one British soldier for the alleged illegal killing of an Iraqi civilian in the course of an arrest. LONDON (Reuters)