"Torture Sanctioned From Above"
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Courtesy Of: Playfuls.com
November 17th 2006
By Playfuls Team

The high command of the British Army officially sanctioned the hooding and mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners in direct contravention of the Geneva Convention, a court martial in Britain has been told.

The Times newspaper said Friday the claims were made by a witness in the court martial of seven soldiers charged in relation to the abuse and ill-treatment of nine Iraqis in Basra in 2003.

One of the prisoners, hotel receptionist Baha Musa, died after 36 hours of being hooded, handcuffed, beaten and deprived of sleep after being detained in the southern Iraqi port, where British troops have their headquarters.

Major Antony Royce, called as a witness by the judge in the case, told the court at Bulford Camp, in Wiltshire, south-west Britain, that he was instructed by those higher up the chain of command to use "conditioning techniques", including putting prisoners in stress positions and hooding them, to prepare detainees for tactical questioning.

According to the Times report, Royce told the court that, after being put in charge of internment, he was told by Major Mark Robinson, a brigade intelligence adviser, to "condition" prisoners.

Fearing that this might contravene prisoner-handling tuition he had received in Britain, Major Royce said that he then checked with Major Russel Clifton, the brigade's legal adviser, and was again told that "conditioning" and hooding were acceptable, the Times reported.

"He (Robinson) instructed me to use conditioning as part of the tactical questioning process," he said. "I then contacted Major Clifton to make sure that what I had been told was right."

"They washed their hands of it, and left us to it," said the witness, according to the report. The trial, which has been running for eight weeks, is expected to continue into 2007.

Source:

http://www.playfuls.com/news_10_3476-British-Court-Martial-Told-Of-Iraq-torture-Sanctioned-From-Above.html