The investigations into allegations of abuse by British soldiers in Iraq have closed without any prosecutions being brought, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has told Parliament.
In a letter to the House of Commons on Tuesday, Mr Wallace said the Service Police Legacy Investigations assessed 1,291 allegations since July 2017 but had now “officially closed its doors”.
He said that although 178 allegations had been formally pursued through 55 investigations, no soldier had been prosecuted as a result on the inquiry's work.
The investigation reports say that five people were referred to the Service Prosecuting Authority in 2019, but no charges were brought.
“The vast majority of the more than 140,000 members of our armed forces who served in Iraq did so honourably," Mr Wallace said.
"Many sadly suffered injuries or death, with devastating consequences for them and their families.”
The inquiry replaced the Iraq Historic Allegations Team in 2017 after Phil Shiner, a solicitor who had taken many cases to it, was struck off for using financial incentives to obtain clients.
Mr Wallace said that, while some allegations against British troops “were credible”, others were not and the credibility of allegations had been a “significant challenge throughout the investigations”.
“However, not all allegations and claims were spurious, otherwise investigations would not have proceeded beyond initial examination and no claims for compensation would have been paid," he said.
“It is sadly clear, from all the investigations the UK conducted, that some shocking and shameful incidents did happen in Iraq.
"We recognise that there were four convictions of UK military personnel for offences in Iraq including offences of assault and inhuman treatment.
“The government’s position is clear – we deplore and condemn all such incidents.”
Three soldiers from the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers were jailed for between 20 weeks and two years by a court martial in February 2005 for abusing Iraqi civilians at a camp near Basra two years earlier.
In 2007, a soldier from the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment was jailed for a year in connection with the death of Iraqi civilian Baha Mousa in September 2003.
The Ministry of Defence has paid more than £20 million ($27.6m) in compensation settlements for abuse claims from Iraqi nationals.
Mr Wallace said that in some cases, investigations “in arduous, battlefield conditions” by the Royal Military Police “did not manage to secure all the required evidence, with the result that opportunities to hold those responsible to account may now have been lost”.
“I apologise unreservedly to all those who suffered treatment at the hands of UK forces, which was unacceptable,” he said.
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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Switzerland 0
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What sanctions would be reimposed?
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
- An arms embargo
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- Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
How tumultuous protests grew
- A fuel tax protest by French drivers appealed to wider anti-government sentiment
- Unlike previous French demonstrations there was no trade union or organised movement involved
- Demonstrators responded to online petitions and flooded squares to block traffic
- At its height there were almost 300,000 on the streets in support
- Named after the high visibility jackets that drivers must keep in cars
- Clashes soon turned violent as thousands fought with police at cordons
- An estimated two dozen people lost eyes and many others were admitted to hospital
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
