British troops executed as many as 20 Iraqi prisoners after a gun battle in on 14 May 2004, lawyers claim. The firefight followed a battle the previous day in Najaf between
Moqtada al-Sadr’s Shia militia and US forces, in which the Imam Ali
shrine was damaged. According to an eyewitness, there was a mood of
revenge in the local mosque. Young men grabbed whatever weapons they
could, walked out onto the highway and lay in wait for occupying forces.
After the battle, in which British forces suffered two minor
injuries while at least 22 Iraqi fighters were killed, British forces
rounded up survivors and took them back to their base at Camp Abu Naji
in Amara.
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.
Hamed al Suadi, 19, had “bullet wounds to the neck and foot. There are signs of torture: the right arm is fractured and there is full distortion of the face.”
Ali al Jemindari, 37, had “several bullet injuries in the head, face and body, with slash marks on the neck. The right arm has been severed at the shoulder. There is a large opening in the right cheek and ...
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The names and circumstances of the death of the victims referred to on this website comes from court documents, witness statements, official reports, and respected human rights and civil liberties organisations such as Amnesty International. Allegations of the British Army Force Research Unit collusion in the murder of UK citizens, including the murder of human rights lawyer Patrick Finucane comes from the British Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens who conducted the official enquiry into British Army Collusion.
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