§ Mr. WigginTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether British troops charged with torture or mistreatment of prisoners in Iraq could be tried in an Iraqi court under Iraqi law. [183244]
266W
§ Mr. IngramI refer the hon. Member to the reply my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary gave on 1 July 2004,Official Report, column 432W, to the right hon. Member for Devizes (Mr. Ancram). British troops serving in Iraq have immunity under Coalition Provisional Authority Order 17.
United Kingdom armed forces, wherever they operate in the world, are subject to English criminal law. They can be tried by court martial for acts committed overseas if those acts would constitute a criminal offence if committed in the UK.
§ Sir Menzies CampbellTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence when and in what circumstances Ministers were first informed of the practice of hooding; what the nature of the practice was; and what the reasons were for its abandonment. [183944]
§ Mr. Ingram[holding answer 20 July 2004]: The hooding of detainees for the purposes of arrest or transit was a standard procedure for United Kingdom troops prior to Operation Telic and, as such, was not specifically brought to the attention of Ministers. The UK believes that hooding during arrest and transit is acceptable when there is a strong military reason, for example to offer security to our own forces and locations or to provide protection to the detainee (through the prevention of identification by other detainees).
Military commanders became aware that the practice of hooding could be harmful to prisoners, especially if it was applied inappropriately. They judged that these concerns outweighed the military justification for the continued use of hooding as a means of blindfolding, and that the most prudent, immediate response was to introduce a ban.
§ Mr. PopeTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many members of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment were(a) awarded medals and (b) mentioned in despatches following their recent deployment in Iraq. [184500]
§ Mr. CaplinFollowing their recent deployment to Iraq (from June 2003 to November 2003), four personnel from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment were awarded medals and two were Mentioned in Despatches.
§ Adam PriceTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to his answer of 7 July 2004,Official Report, column 721W, on Iraq, why he decided to publish the extracts from the document. [185600]
§ Mr. Hoon[holding answer 20 July 2004]: The extract contained the relevant information.
Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) whether he was informed in July 2003 that the SIS had, in that month, withdrawn reporting from a source who claimed that production of biological and chemical agents had been accelerated by the Iraqi regime, because the source of the reporting had subsequently been deemed unreliable; [185656]
(2) when he was informed that SIS had withdrawn reporting from the source who claimed that production of biological and chemical agents had been accelerated by the Iraqi regime, because the source of the reporting had subsequently been deemed unreliable. [185691]
267W
§ Mr. HoonI first became aware that SIS had withdrawn the reports as a result of the Butler Review.