Phil in Paris
01-10-2005, 03:37 PM
Mon Jan 10, 1:07 PM ET
BERLIN (AFP) - The first court martial of a British soldier accused of mistreating Iraqi prisoners got underway at a military base in western Germany, in a case already dubbed "Britain's Abu Ghraib".
Gary Bartlam, a member of the Royal Fusiliers, is appearing at a military court at the regiment's base in Hohne, western Germany, north of Hanover, in a trial scheduled to run until Tuesday.
The court martial of three other members of the regiment, who are accused in the same case, was due to begin at nearby Osnabrueck on Wednesday.
For legal reasons, no details of either of the courts martial can be published until further notice following an order by the court, confirmed a military official, who declined to be named.
The British press is calling the military trial "Britain's Abu Ghraib", after the Iraqi prisoner torture scandal involving US troops in the notorious Abu Ghraib prison on the outskirts of Baghdad.
Reports say Bartlam, 19, was arrested in Britain in mid-2003 after staff at a photographic store in Staffordshire, central England, tipped off police about so-called "trophy snaps" of his time in Iraq which he had asked them to develop.
The photographs were reported to show acts of torture inflicted on Iraqi prisoners in a food storehouse warehouse in Basra in southern Iraq, where the bulk of British forces are based.
None of the images have been published and the contents of the roll of film have not been officially confirmed.
"The charges against the four include assault, indecent assault which apparently involves making the victims engage in sexual activity between themselves, and a military charge of prejudicing good order and military discipline," Britain's Attorney General, the government's top legal adviser, said in a statement to the upper house of parliament in June.
"The case concerns conduct alleged to have occurred whilst the civilians were being temporarily detained, but not in a prison or detention facility. It involves photographic evidence developed in this country and referred to the UK police," the statement said.
Britain's left-leaning Guardian newspaper had vowed in its Monday edition before the court martial opened to challenge any ban on divulging details of the trial.
"The Guardian and a number of other media organisations will mount a legal challenge in the court today if the government attempts to prevent the details from becoming public," the paper said.
The daily cited defence sources who "confirmed that lawyers are considering arguing that the public airing of the abuse could provoke attacks on soldiers deployed in Iraq in the run-up to the elections, when violence against foreign troops is expected to escalate."
Iraq is scheduled to hold general elections on January 30, despite daily attacks on US troops and civilians.
A number of courts martial have already resulted from the Abu Ghraib scandal, and their details largely made public, but while US prison guards and some intelligence officials have come under scrutiny, no senior officials have been implicated.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1537&ncid=1537&e=5&u=/afp/20050110/wl_uk_afp/britainiraqprisoners_050110180702
BERLIN (AFP) - The first court martial of a British soldier accused of mistreating Iraqi prisoners got underway at a military base in western Germany, in a case already dubbed "Britain's Abu Ghraib".
Gary Bartlam, a member of the Royal Fusiliers, is appearing at a military court at the regiment's base in Hohne, western Germany, north of Hanover, in a trial scheduled to run until Tuesday.
The court martial of three other members of the regiment, who are accused in the same case, was due to begin at nearby Osnabrueck on Wednesday.
For legal reasons, no details of either of the courts martial can be published until further notice following an order by the court, confirmed a military official, who declined to be named.
The British press is calling the military trial "Britain's Abu Ghraib", after the Iraqi prisoner torture scandal involving US troops in the notorious Abu Ghraib prison on the outskirts of Baghdad.
Reports say Bartlam, 19, was arrested in Britain in mid-2003 after staff at a photographic store in Staffordshire, central England, tipped off police about so-called "trophy snaps" of his time in Iraq which he had asked them to develop.
The photographs were reported to show acts of torture inflicted on Iraqi prisoners in a food storehouse warehouse in Basra in southern Iraq, where the bulk of British forces are based.
None of the images have been published and the contents of the roll of film have not been officially confirmed.
"The charges against the four include assault, indecent assault which apparently involves making the victims engage in sexual activity between themselves, and a military charge of prejudicing good order and military discipline," Britain's Attorney General, the government's top legal adviser, said in a statement to the upper house of parliament in June.
"The case concerns conduct alleged to have occurred whilst the civilians were being temporarily detained, but not in a prison or detention facility. It involves photographic evidence developed in this country and referred to the UK police," the statement said.
Britain's left-leaning Guardian newspaper had vowed in its Monday edition before the court martial opened to challenge any ban on divulging details of the trial.
"The Guardian and a number of other media organisations will mount a legal challenge in the court today if the government attempts to prevent the details from becoming public," the paper said.
The daily cited defence sources who "confirmed that lawyers are considering arguing that the public airing of the abuse could provoke attacks on soldiers deployed in Iraq in the run-up to the elections, when violence against foreign troops is expected to escalate."
Iraq is scheduled to hold general elections on January 30, despite daily attacks on US troops and civilians.
A number of courts martial have already resulted from the Abu Ghraib scandal, and their details largely made public, but while US prison guards and some intelligence officials have come under scrutiny, no senior officials have been implicated.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1537&ncid=1537&e=5&u=/afp/20050110/wl_uk_afp/britainiraqprisoners_050110180702