(1) TREATMENT OF DETAINEES BY MEMBERS OF THE ARMED
FORCES
1.5 The treatment of detainees by members of the
armed forces in Iraq is a subject into which our predecessor Committee
inquired and on which it reported on a number of occasions.[8]
The allegations of ill-treatment are acknowledged by the Secretary
of State to be of the utmost seriousness. They include a range
of forms of ill-treatment which include all of the so-called "five
techniques" (hooding, stress positions, subjection to noise
and deprivation of sleep, food and water) which were prohibited
in the UK in 1972 following the decision of the European Court
of Human Rights in Ireland v UK.
1.6 The allegations are currently the subject of
a number of different public inquiries and investigations. The
Baha Mousa inquiry, chaired by Sir William Gage, has finished
hearing evidence and may report in the next few months. The Al
Sweady inquiry, into alleged unlawful killings and ill-treatment
in a different incident, will be chaired by Sir Thayne Forbes
and will not begin hearing evidence until May 2011. Both inquiries
will make findings about the allegations and, if appropriate,
recommendations for the future.
1.7 The Secretary of State has set up the Iraq Historic
Allegations Team ("IHAT") to investigate the allegations
with a view to the identification and punishment of anyone responsible
for wrongdoing. He has also set up a separate Iraq Historic Allegations
Panel ("IHAP") to ensure proper and effective handling
of information concerning cases subject to investigation by IHAT
and to consider the results of IHAT's investigations, any criminal
or disciplinary proceedings brought, and any other judicial decisions
concerning the cases, with a view to identifying any wider issues
which should be brought to the attention of the Secretary of State.
The Secretary of State has not ruled out the possibility that
a public inquiry into systemic issues may be required, in the
light of IHAT's investigations and the outcome of the existing
public inquiries, nor that there may be prosecutions in the light
of those outcomes, but he says that it is premature to set up
such a public inquiry now while these other inquiries and investigations
are going on.
1.8 We decided
not to return to the substantive question of the alleged ill-treatment
of detainees by members of the armed forces in the context of
this Bill, but to keep open the possibility of doing so in a future
Report. We made this decision in light of the fact that the allegations
are currently the subject of a number of different public inquiries
and ongoing investigation by the Ministry of Defence. If it is
established by any of these inquiries or investigations that the
allegations disclose the existence of systemic abuse of detainees
by members of the armed forces, it might be appropriate to consider
whether any legislative responses are required to prevent such
abuse from happening again. We may therefore return to the issue
in a future Report in the light of any relevant findings and recommendations.
8 See for example, Twenty-eighth Report of 2007-08,
UN Convention against torture: Discrepancies in evidence given
to the Committee about the use of prohibited interrogation techniques
in Iraq, HL Paper 157/HC 527. Back
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