Iraq war logs: Prisoner beaten to death days after British handover to police
High-level diplomatic protests were made to Iraqi interior minister after death of Abbas Alawi while in custody of Basra police
An Iraqi criminal prisoner was tortured and beaten to death within three days of being turned over to police in Basra by British troops.This latest detailed evidence of previously covered-up Iraq atrocities has emerged following the leak of a vast number of Iraq war logs compiled by the US army and containing hour-by-hour military field reports.
The 391,832 previously secret field reports, passed to the Guardian and other newspapers by the online whistleblowing group WikiLeaks, has already shown that US authorities failed to investigate hundreds of reports of abuse, rape and murder by Iraqi police and soldiers.
According to the new evidence, British authorities were well aware of the atrocities that were occurring in Basra and were unhappy about them.
UK troops face 90 new claims of abuse in Iraq
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The unit, the creation of which was announced in March, comprises 80 staff including military investigators and former Scotland Yard homicide detectives. A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "The team is investigating all alleged cases of abuse by UK service personnel in Iraq and will identify any action that needs to be taken. We anticipate this should take around two years."
White has met Phil Shiner, of Public Interest Lawyers, who will begin a case in the high court on Friday on behalf of 142 Iraqis who claim they were abused by British troops in the aftermath of the war to topple Saddam Hussein.
This week's high court case, coming just one week after the release of thousands of classified Iraq war documents on the whistleblower website WikiLeaks, will determine whether a public inquiry should be ordered to disclose the scale of alleged abuse of Iraqis detained by British troops. MoD insiders hope White's inquiries will stem demands for a public inquiry. Critics counter that only a wide-ranging and transparent inquiry will guarantee that the true scale of the abuse comes to light.