British soldiers found guilty of Iraqi abuse

Wednesday, 23 February 2005 12:00 AM

Two British soldiers have been found guilty of abusing Iraqi prisoners.

A court martial in Germany found Corporal Daniel Kenyon, 33, and Lance Corporal Mark Cooley, 25, guilty of five out of nine charges.

A third soldier, Lance Corporal Darren Larkin, 30, admitted one charge of assault.

Corporal Kenyon, the most senior soldier on trial, was found guilty of three charges; for aiding and abetting the abuse, failing to report abuses committed by other soldiers, and failing to report that soldiers under his command had forced two naked prisoners to simulate sex acts.

Lance Corporal Cooley was found guilty of two charges. Firstly for the "simulated punching" of an Iraqi detainee for the purposes of a photograph and secondly for "disgraceful conduct of a cruel kind" for placing an Iraqi prisoner on the prong of a fork lift truck.

But no-one was found guilty of the most serious of the charges of forcing two Iraqi men to strip and then simulate sex acts.

The case arises out of the chaotic aftermath of the fall of Saddam Hussein when the British Camp Bread Basket base in Basra was having problems dealing with widespread looting.

A group of soldiers decided to take some of the prisoners into a secluded area where the abuse took place. Upon their return to the UK, one of the soldiers tried to develop photographs taken of the abuse, but the chemist was so shocked by the pictures that she called the police.

The man who took the photographs stood trial at a previous court martial.

The men are likely to be sentenced within the next few days, after the panel and the judge have received background reports on the men.

If they are sentenced to prison for over a year they will automatically be dismissed from the army.

Paul Keetch, the Liberal Democrats' defence spokesman said that the guilty verdicts should not detract from the good name of the majority of British soldiers.

Mr Keetch said: "The actions of these two soldiers are extremely regrettable. I hope these guilty verdicts will now draw a line under this unfortunate episode.

"But today's verdict must not detract from the excellent and courageous work of our armed forces in Iraq and across the world."

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