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Interrogation/Counter-Resistance Policy

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for what reason and in what capacity Colonel Chris Terrington saw a version of the CJTF-7 Interrogation and Counter-Resistance Policy document in December 2003. [224892]

Mr. Ingram: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) whether the UK officer acting as Deputy Senior Judge Advocate in Iraq advised his superiors in the UK chain of command that interrogation techniques included in the CJTF-7 Interrogation and Counter-Resistance Policy document were (a) inhumane under UK case law and (b) constituted a potential breach of the Geneva Conventions in the view of the Government; [224893]

(2) whether the UK officer acting as Deputy Senior Judge Advocate in Iraq advised the United States authorities that some of the interrogation techniques included in the CJTF-7 Interrogation and Counter-Resistance Policy document were (a) inhumane under UK case law and (b) constituted a potential breach of the Geneva Conventions in the view of the Government. [224894]

Mr. Ingram: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the letter to the hon. Member for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr of 31 January 2004 from the Minister of State in his Department (1) what general
 
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comments were made by the British Deputy Staff Judge Advocate on the draft of the interrogation and counter-resistance policy document; [217286]

(2) which sections and which drafts of the interrogation and counter-resistance policy were seen by the British Deputy Staff Judge in the Office of Colonel Marc Warren; [217287]

(3) whether the British Deputy Senior Judge Advocate submitted regular reports to his British superiors; [217288]

(4) whether the British Deputy Senior Judge Advocate saw the 12 October update of the interrogation and counter-resistance policy document. [217292]

Mr. Ingram: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Iraq

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will ask his United States counterpart to investigate claims made by former US Marine Jimmy Massey that US Coalition Forces in Iraq shot dead unarmed Iraqi civilians at roadblocks in Iraq. [205022]

Mr. Ingram: It has not proved possible to respond to my hon. Friend in the time available before Prorogation.

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether private security firms and personnel are employed in the (a) management and (b) running of prisons and detention centres under the control of the UK in Iraq. [208650]

Mr. Ingram: It has not proved possible to respond to my hon. Friend in the time available before Prorogation.

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to hold an independent investigation into deaths that have occurred in British custody in Iraq. [209940]

Mr. Ingram [holding answer 20 January 2005]: All deaths of Iraqis in British custody in Iraq have been or continue to be subject to rigorous Service police investigation. Where there is a case to answer, individuals will be called to account before an independent court, either military or civilian.

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many investigations have been held into deaths and injuries allegedly caused by UK forces in Iraq; and what the status of each investigation is. [209941]

Mr. Ingram [holding answer 21 January 2005]: I refer the hon. Member to my answer given on 3 March 2005 Official Report, column 1341W.

Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many representations have been made to UK military authorities in Iraq by prisoners of war of (a) Iraqi and (b) other nationality in accordance with their rights under article 78 of the third Geneva convention. [211082]

 
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Mr. Ingram: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps his Department took to secure the United Nations World Food Programme sites on the outskirts of Basra; what assessment he has made of what was looted from the programme at the site; and if he will make a statement. [211390]

Mr. Ingram: It has not proved possible to respond to my hon. Friend in the time available before Prorogation.

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to his reply of 18 November 2004, Official Report, column 1830W, on Iraq, when he will write to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak. [215336]

Mr. Ingram: I wrote to my hon. Friend on 30 March 2005.

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many persons arrested in Iraq by UK forces have been transferred to the custody of the United States. [215477]

Mr. Ingram: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether British service personnel have made allegations of mistreatment of detainees by US service personnel at Camp Bucca in Um-Qasr. [215480]

Mr. Ingram [holding answer 10 February 2005]: We are not aware of any such claims. Throughout the period that UK detainees were at US Camp Bucca (10 April—15 December 2003) there were two teams of UK service personnel, a UK PW Registration Unit and a Prisoner Monitoring Team. The monitoring team regularly inspected prisoner conditions and monitored family visits and the release of UK prisoners. They did not report any incidents of deliberate detainee mistreatment at the Camp.

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what reports (a) Ministers, (b) officials and (c) armed services personnel have received on alleged kidnappings by members of the Badr Brigade in South-East Iraq. [216366]

Mr. Ingram: There have been numerous reports relating to the activities of the Badr Corps that have been seen by the Ministry of Defence.

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) whether the British Deputy in the Office of the Senior Judge Advocate in Iraq asked Major George O'Kane to investigate allegations of abuse at Abu Ghraib; [218301]

(2) whether the British Deputy in the Office of the Senior Judge Advocate in Iraq received a copy of the International Committee of the Red Cross working paper based on a visit to Abu Ghraib in October 2003. [218302]

Mr. Ingram [holding answers 25 February 2005]: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
 
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Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to his letter to the hon. Member for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr of 31 January, what the remit was of the British Deputy in the Office of the Judge Advocate in the areas of (a) detainees and (b) operational law. [218303]

Mr. Ingram [holding answer 25 February 2005]: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Mr. Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of (a) combatant and (b) non-combatant deaths during the conflict in Iraq; and how this number was calculated. [222936]

Mr. Ingram [holding answer 21 March 2005]: A total of 76 UK Service personnel have died while serving on Operation Telic, 49 of whom were killed in action. A further 10 are missing believed killed in the C130 crash on 30 January, the cause of the crash is under investigation.

The United Kingdom armed forces do not have the information that would enable a reliable estimate of the total number of combatant or non-combatant Iraqi casualties arising from the conflict to be made. This is because UK military reporting is limited to UK area of operations. But even within the UK area of operations reporting is limited to what troops observe directly or learn from reliable sources.

Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether any detainees originally captured by UK forces have been detained in Camp Cropper. [223046]

Mr. Ingram: Two high value detainees initially taken into custody by the UK were held at Camp Cropper. Their cases have now been transferred to the Iraq special tribunal, and as such they are no longer being detained under UK authority.

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether (a) Ministers and (b) officials of his Department played a part in the preparation of the Iraqi casualty figures released on 29 October 2004 by the interim Iraqi health minister; and if he will place in the Library a copy of the original Iraqi statement. [224002]

Mr. Rammell: I have been asked to reply.

The Iraqi casualty figures were collated and prepared by the Iraqi Ministry of Health. I have placed a copy of the statement in the Library of the House.

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if his Department will offer assistance to the Iraqi Government for testing Iraqi citizens who have been exposed to depleted uranium ammunition deployed by the UK in Iraq. [224762]

Mr. Caplin: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) will provide appropriate advice to the Iraqi Government on testing for Iraqi citizens if requested.

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many British troops are under investigation with regard to activities in Iraq but have not yet been charged. [210576]

 
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Mr. Ingram: As at 4 April 2005, 46 members of the armed forces have been reported in relation to incidents where non-UK third parties have allegedly been killed or injured. The bringing of charges against 23 of these is under consideration by prosecuting authorities.

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what advice was given to armed service personnel on appropriate material with which to hood prisoners in Iraq prior to the prohibition of this practice. [210890]

Mr. Ingram: The hooding of detainees for the purposes of arrest or transit was used by UK troops when there was a strong military reason to do so, during the early stages of Operation Telic. Sacking material was used to hood the detainees.

The practice of hooding was discontinued when there was no longer a military justification for continuing to do so.

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his latest estimate is of the number of (a) UK forces killed, (b) UK forces seriously injured, (c) Iraqi forces killed, (d) Iraqi forces severely injured, (e) Iraqi civilians killed and (f) Iraqi civilians severely injured in Iraq since March 2003. [221419]

Mr. Ingram: 76 UK Service personnel have been killed in Iraq since March 2003 and 10 are missing believed killed. As at 28 February 2005, 2,937 personnel have been medically evacuated, the majority of these are due to illness. The MOD statistics held centrally on personnel medically evacuated since the beginning of Operation TELIC are not broken down into seriously or non-seriously injured or into combat and non-combat injuries prior to August 2004. Between August 2004 and 28 February 2005, 82 Service personnel have been injured in action in Iraq.

There are no wholly reliable and comprehensive figures for Iraqis killed during or since military operations began in March 2003. The Iraqi Minister of Health's most recently released figures, based on records from some 180 hospitals, show that between 5 April 2004, when figures began to be collated, and 1 March 2005, 6,265 Iraqis were killed. The Ministry of Health points out that this figure includes all Iraqis, including civilians, Iraqi Security Forces and insurgents, killed as a result of violence.

The Ministry of Defence does not produce estimates of Iraqi military or civilian casualties. This is because UK military reporting is limited to the UK area of operations. But even within the UK area of operations reporting is limited to what troops see on the ground. Military reporting is therefore incomplete and cannot provide the basis of Iraqi civilian or military casualty estimates.

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