Soldier admits war crime charge

There are numerous press reports about Corporal Donald Payne who became the first member of the British armed forces to admit a war crime in court when he pleaded guilty to inhumanely treating civilians detained in Iraq.

Corporal Payne is one of seven British troops who went on trial today facing charges linked to the death of an Iraqi civilian who was in British custody and to the alleged ill-treatment of other detainees. in Basra, southern Iraq, in September 2003.

The court martial at Bulford Camp, Wiltshire, marks the first time British service personnel have been prosecuted for war crimes under the International Criminal Court Act 2001. Cpl Payne, 35, admitted inhumanely treating civilians but pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter and perverting the course of justice. His six co-defendants pleaded not guilty to all the charges facing them.

Julian Bevan QC, prosecuting, said the case against the seven defendants centred upon the alleged ill-treatment received by Iraqi civilians held for a period of about 36 hours at a temporary detention facility in Basra between September 14 and 15, 2003. He said that the detainees were repeatedly beaten, kicked and punched while handcuffed and hooded with sacks; made to maintain a stress position for unacceptable lengths of time; deprived of sleep; continually shouted at; and "generally abused in temperatures rising to almost 60C". "One civilian, Baha Musa, died as a result, in part from the multiple injuries he had received - there being no less than 93 injuries on his body at the post-mortem stage, including fractured ribs and a broken nose," Mr Bevan told a seven-man judging panel.

Aside from Cpl Payne, another two of the defendants face war crimes charges. Lance Corporal Wayne Crowcroft, 22, and Private Darren Fallon, 23, both of the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, both deny a charge of inhumane treatment, which is a war crime under the International Criminal Court Act .

All the other charges faced by Cpl Payne and the six co-defendants are alleged offences under the British Army Act 1955. Sergeant Kelvin Stacey, 29, of the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, is accused of assault occasioning actual bodily harm with an alternative count of common assault. Major Michael Peebles, 35, Warrant Officer Mark Davies, 37, both of the Intelligence Corps, and Colonel Jorge Mendonca, formerly the commander of the Queen's Lancashire is also accused of negligently performing a duty.

The "negligently performing a duty" charge, faced by three of the men, relates to an alleged failure to take reasonable steps to ensure that military personnel under the officers' control did not mistreat Iraqi civilians being detained. The trial, which has been listed for 16 weeks, continues.

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