§ Lord Palmerasked her Majesty's Government:
Whether they could have prevented the publication of photographs allegedly showing the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners by coalition forces. [HL2764]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Bach)We do not believe we could have prevented the publication of the photographs in theDaily Mirror.
At the time the Ministry of Defence was informed of the Mirror's intention to publish the photos, officials did not know they were fake. The Daily Mirror intended to publish the photos the following day, which did not give us sufficient time to check whether or not they were authentic.
There is clear public interest in exposing the actions of coalition forces if those actions are in breach of the United Kingdom/United States obligations under the Geneva conventions. We believe that had we sought an injunction counsel would have advised that the public interest outweighed any national security reasons for preventing publication.
We do not believe that a simple request from Ministers or officials to the editor of the Daily Mirror not to publish the photographs would have been successful.
Publication of photos in the US of US forces allegedly committing abuse is a matter for the US authorities.