Army Major raised fears over treatment of Iraqis

One of the most senior British Army officers charged over the death of an Iraqi prisoner revealed today he previously raised fears soldiers were going "over the top" with detainees.

Major Michael Peebles said he identified concerns after one prisoner was left with a bloodied nose after being punched in the face "for no particular reason".

Before the death of Baha Mousa in custody, he claimed he had approached Corporal Donald Payne because he "did not want soldiers to be over the top or overly robust".

Speaking at the inquiry into the hotel worker's death, Maj Peebles was asked whether he had any previous concerns about the care and welfare of detainees.

He said: "The only time I had concern was with the bloody nose incident which I dealt with."

He raised the issue with Cpl Payne, saying: "That sort of behaviour is not acceptable down here."

Cpl Payne became the first member of the British Armed Forces to be convicted of a war crime when he pleaded guilty to inhumanely treating civilians at the court martial in September 2006.

He was dismissed from the Army and sentenced to one year in a civilian jail.

Describing how he saw the injury to the bloody-nosed prisoner, Maj Peebles added: "I was alarmed by it. It seemed he had been hit in the face for no particular reason."

When asked whether he believed it was an assault, Maj Peebles added: "I do not believe that I thought it was unlawful at the time."

Mr Mousa, 26, died in the custody of the former Queen's Lancashire Regiment in Basra, southern Iraq, in September 2003 having suffered 93 separate injuries.

After the death, Maj Peebles was accused of negligently performing the duty of ensuring the men under his control did not ill-treat Iraqi prisoners, but later cleared at a court martial.

Maj Peebles, of the Intelligence Corps, was then battle group internment review officer with responsibility for deciding whether or not detainees should be held or released.

A soldier told the inquiry in October that the officer warned his men not to "go as far as you did last time" when Mr Mousa and several of his colleagues were arrested on September 14 2003.

Ali Aktash, then a Territorial Army signaller, claimed that Maj Peebles told him British troops had beaten detainees on a previous occasion.

The public inquiry in central London has been told that UK soldiers in Iraq used "conditioning" methods - such as hooding, sleep deprivation and making suspects stand in painful stress positions - banned by the Government in 1972.

It has also heard that troops subjected them to abuse including making them scream in an "orchestrated choir" and forcing one to dance like Michael Jackson.

Maj Peebles denied he was "specifically" responsible for detainees' welfare but accepted that he was keeping an "eye" on incidents.

He also said during questioning with Gerard Elias QC, counsel to the inquiry, that he did not remember Cpl Payne raising concerns to him about "gratuitous" violence after Mr Mousa's death.

Maj Peebles said: "I do not recall whether Corporal Payne raised any query with me on Monday September 15 about the treatment of the detainees."

Maj Peebles denied accusations of being "highly irresponsible" for passing on a rumour to soldiers that Mr Mousa and other detainees may be connected to the murder of three Royal Military Police (RMP) soldiers killed on August 23, 2003.

Mr Elias asked: "Why, that Sunday afternoon, did you pass on the fact that you believed that these detainees might have something to do with the deaths of the three RMP men?"

Maj Peebles said: "Sir, I was either asked or I said in terms of passing on information to the guard that these people were in custody, so I gave a brief explanation, or I just said it.

"I said 'the reason we are questioning them is because we might believe that they would know something about the RMP incident'."

Mr Elias responded: "Wasn't it highly irresponsible, to put it at its lowest, to spread the rumour about detainees being guarded by soldiers of 1QLR. Wasn't it highly irresponsible to spread that possibility as a rumour?"

The officer said: "No, at the time I didn't think that that would be wholly irresponsible. I thought it was appropriate that they know the people who we were dealing with, that they were a potential threat."

Mr Elias asked: "Did you think, Maj Peebles, that the use of conditioning techniques risked going over the top?

Maj Peebles replied: "Yes, I said so."

He added: "I mean, if stress positions were enforced over-robustly, or if it was to go on for too long, then clearly I think that would have a detrimental effect on the detainees."