British war criminal given year in jail
By D’Arcy Doran, Associated Press Writer | April 30, 2007
LONDON --Britain’s first convicted war criminal was sentenced to a year in prison and dismissed from the army Monday in connection with the death of an Iraqi hotel worker.
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Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail | Breaking News Alerts Corp. Donald Payne, who pleaded guilty to inhumanely treating Iraqi civilians in southern Basra in 2003, was sentenced by a military court in Bulford Camp in southwest England. He had been cleared earlier of manslaughter charges and perverting justice.
In September, Payne became the first British soldier to plead guilty to a war crime under international law. He was on trial with six other soldiers, who all were cleared due to a lack of evidence.
The judge, Stuart McKinnon, said the violent treatment of prisoners was standard practice in Basra for the soldier’s Queen’s Lancashire Regiment – which showed “a serious failing in the chain of command all the way up to brigade and beyond.”
The victim, Baha Mousa, was among nine Iraqi detainees taken into custody as alleged insurgents. The court heard they were held in stress positions and deprived of sleep for about two days in extreme heat at a British army barracks in September 2003.
Mousa, a 26-year-old hotel receptionist, died after he was restrained by soldiers following an attempt to escape. A pathologist told the court Mousa had died from asphyxia, caused by a stress position soldiers forced him to maintain. The eight other detainees were released without charge.
Payne led a sadistic joke called “the choir.” He kicked or punched a group of detainees, trying to make their shrieks of pain sound like a song, the court heard. He encouraged other soldiers to join in.
He broke two of Mousa’s ribs by restraining him and kicked him in the groin. Payne also kicked an elderly prisoner, nicknamed “granddad,” in the kidneys, the court heard.
Although Payne admitted his role, he insisted he was not solely responsible for the abuse.
His lawyer, Tim Owen, said Payne was a “sacrificial lamb” and the only one punished for abuse meted out by many.
The court heard Payne had been ordered to “condition” the Iraqis despite this being banned by international law. “Conditioning” involves hooding, sleep deprivation and forcing prisoners to hold stress positions to “soften them up” before interrogation.
The army’s chief of staff Gen. Richard Dannatt said the case raised “uncomfortable facts” and said the army was confronting the problem.
He said British military personnel have a duty to obey the law.
“It now appears that this duty was forgotten or overlooked in this case,” Dannatt said.