Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Iraq troops decision 'this year'
The final withdrawal of British troops from Iraq could be announced by the end of the year, the BBC has learned.
Discussions have begun about pulling forces out if the security situation continues to improve.
However, any withdrawal of troops could take many months after a political announcement is made.
Ministers are under pressure from the military to release the 4,000 troops who are currently serving in Iraq while pressures are mounting in Afghanistan.
Previous plans to reduce troop numbers to 2,500 were put on hold in March.
This followed a bout of violence dubbed the "battle of Basra". (BBC)
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
British rights group accuses US of using 'prison ships'
The United States has operated more than a dozen "floating prisons" to hold and question suspected Islamist extremists as part of its so-called "war on terror," a British rights group said Monday. Reprieve, a legal action charity, said it believed that as many as 17 ships had been used to interrogate prisoners "under torturous conditions before being 'rendered' to other, often undisclosed, locations."
The US military has previously confirmed that it has occasionally used ships to hold prisoners during its operations in Afghanistan.
Other bodies - including the Council of Europe, national parliaments, the media and former prisoners - have also raised the issue, Reprieve said.
But the Pentagon denied the allegations Monday.
"There are no prison ships," spokesman Colonel Gary Keck told AFP. "There are no detention facilities on any ships. Sometimes there have been transports on ships, but not as a detention facility."
Asked what he meant by a "detention facility," Keck said that "detention is a long-term place to be."
A US defense official added that it was possible US Navy ships had been used as a temporary "holding arrangement" until prisoners could be moved to more permanent locations. (AFP)
Labels: Human Rights, U.K., U.S.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Guantanamo detainee writes Brown for help
A British resident held at the US "war on terror" detention center at Guantanamo Bay has written a letter to Prime Minister Gordon Brown calling for his release, The Independent newspaper reported Friday. In the letter, excerpts of which the daily published, Binyam Mohamed insisted he was innocent, but said he feared the death penalty if charged with terrorism offenses. "I have been held without trial by the US for six years, one month and 12 days," wrote Mohamed, 29, the final Guantanamo detainee left with a right to return to Britain. "Still there is no end in sight, no prospect for a fair trial." Mohamed said he was grateful for Britain's public declaration of support for his cause, adding that before Britain intervened, he was "resigned to my fate." He added, however: "But it has been a cruel hope. Nine months later, I am still here, no closer to home, still in this terrible prison." Mohammed said he felt "deeply betrayed" by Britain. "It is long past time to end this matter," he wrote. "I have been next to committing suicide this past while. That would be one way to end it, I suppose." Three other British residents were released from Guantanamo Bay and flown back last year, while a fourth was transferred to Saudi Arabia. Ethiopian-born Mohamed said that of the six years he had spent in US custody, more than one year was spent in a torture chamber in Morocco, and another five months in Afghanistan. He was picked up in Pakistan in April 2002 while attempting to leave the country for Britain, after traveling to Pakistan and Afghanistan from Britain the previous year to deal with a drug habit and other personal problems. Brown's office declined to comment on the letter. (AFP)
Labels: Guantanamo, U.K., U.S.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Britain looked to Israel when studying military deception
When British military leaders set up a special task force in 1969 to study how best to use deception to achieve their battlefield aims, they turned their attention to the tactics used by the Israelis - not the Americans.
Formerly classified documents released Friday by the National Archives show that many officers felt the Americans didn't have a knack for deceiving the enemy. Americans were judged to be so open and friendly that they lacked cunning.
The so-called Defense Deception Advisory Group studied in detail the way Israel's military and political leaders used a complex series of intertwined deceptions to fool their Arab enemies about the Jewish state's intentions and its military capabilities.
The British found, for example, that the Israelis confused their adversaries by setting up fake soldiers - actual mannequins in battle dress were used - near one border crossing to make their enemies think an attack was coming, forcing them to deploy troops to defend the area. (AP)
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Cluster bombs ban close after British move
Some 109 countries meeting in Dublin are close to agreeing a landmark convention to eliminate cluster bombs after Britain gave way and agreed Wednesday to withdraw them, the Irish foreign ministry said.
After 10 days of often tense debate, diplomats are close to agreeing on the text of a wide-ranging pact that would completely end the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions by its signatories.
Britain was widely cited by cluster bomb ban campaigners as being at the forefront of a group of states seeking to water down the treaty.
But in a dramatic move Wednesday, Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced in London that Britain would withdraw all its cluster bombs from service in a bid to break the deadlock in Dublin.
"We have decided we will take all our types of cluster bombs out of service," Brown said.
"I believe that is going to make a difference to the negotiations that are now taking place."
In fast-moving negotiations at Croke Park stadium in the Irish capital, officials put through amendments on a draft text, with sources saying a definitive agreement seemed close.
"At the moment we are in the process of agreeing the text," an Irish foreign ministry spokeswoman told AFP. (AFP)
Labels: U.K., Weapons Ban
Britain defense sec endorses talks with Taliban
Britain's Defense Minister Des Browne endorsed peace talks between Pakistan and Taliban militants on Wednesday despite concerns from Afghanistan that the talks will allow the Taliban to regroup and launch more attacks.
Browne said Britain supported any moves that would encourage militants to put down their weapons and stop violence, and said Pakistan and Afghanistan needed to work together on problems with their border, much of which is controlled by Taliban insurgents.
He said reconciliation should be a part of any strategy, although it was clear some militants had no intention of putting down their weapons.
"But you can't kill your way out of these sorts of campaigns," Browne told journalists at Australia's National Press Club on Wednesday.
Faced with a wave of suicide attacks, Pakistan has begun talks with Taliban militants who control much of the country's 2,700 km (1,670 miles) mountain border with Afghanistan. (Reuters)
Labels: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Taliban, U.K.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Browne meets residents of Basra
Defence Secretary Des Browne has praised the Iraqi army during a visit to central Basra for its work to crack down on Shia militia.
Mr Browne met stallholders and residents and said the city had been "transformed" by the security forces.
He had an "enormous sense of pride" in what they had achieved with the help of the British, he added.
It is the first time Mr Browne has visited central Basra since UK forces moved to a base outside the city.
He drove into Basra in a mastiff armoured vehicle with soldiers from the 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland before spending almost an hour in the downtown area.
He also drank tea in a roadside cafe with Iraqi commander General Mohammed Juwad Huwaidi.
Mr Browne said: "As I walked through Basra's streets today, chatting to local people, it was clear to everyone that Basra is a transformed city.
"I felt an enormous sense of pride in what the Iraqi forces have achieved with our help." (BBC)
Thursday, May 22, 2008
US allies lengthen Afghan tours
The Netherlands and Britain are to increase the length of their command rotations in southern Afghanistan from nine months to 12 months, according to a Pentagon spokesman.
The commitment by the two Nato-member countries to lengthen their tours comes after concerns that short stints are hampering military operations against the Taliban.
The agreement will take effect when Canada hands over command of the south to the Netherlands in November, Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, said.
He said the deal sets the command rotations through 2010, when the US assumes command in the south.
"We believe that this new arrangement - and our allies as well, because they have agreed to it - will provide greater predictability, continuity, stability in this volatile important region of Afghanistan," Morrell said. (Al Jazeera)
Labels: Afghanistan, NATO, Netherlands, U.K.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Gay Iranian granted asylum in UK
Mehdi Kazemi, 19, came to London to study English in 2005, but later discovered his boyfriend had been charged with sodomy in Iran and hanged.
A 38-year-old Iranian soldier who deserted rather than lay anti-personnel landmines also won the right to stay.
The soldier, identified only as BE, fled to Britain after refusing to plant mines in roads.
In March 2001 the home secretary refused the man's claim for asylum, saying he had not only undertaken military service but had signed up as a regular soldier "without any apparent qualms".
The conclusion drawn was that civilian deaths were an unfortunate consequence of war which did not justify desertion.
But this was overturned by judges who ruled the soldier was entitled to succeed in his claim for international protection. (BBC)
Labels: Gay Rights, Iran, U.K.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Military chiefs urge UK to ban cluster bombs
Some of the most senior British former generals and Nato commanders urged the government yesterday to agree to a total ban on cluster bombs, describing them as "inaccurate and unreliable".
Their call came as negotiations began in Dublin for an international treaty outlawing cluster munitions, which scatter large numbers of bomblets over a wide area. Many of these fail to explode at the time, only to kill and maim civilians, often long after the conflict has ended.
The call for a ban came from former defence chiefs including Field Marshal Lord Bramall; Major General Patrick Cordingley, commander of the Desert Rats during the first Gulf war; Sir Jack Deverell, former Nato commander; General Lord Ramsbotham, and two former Nato and UN commanders in the Balkans, General Sir Michael Rose and General Sir Rupert Smith. Ramsbotham said: "To continue using these weapons when other countries ban them could seriously impede our standing in the world."
The Ministry of Defence has agreed to abandon what it calls old "dumb" cluster munitions. But it want to keeps two newer types of cluster weapons, the M85, an Israeli-designed artillery weapon whose bomblets are designed to self-destruct, and the CRV7 weapon system used on British Apache helicopters. (Guardian)
Labels: U.K., Weapons Ban
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Iran triggers £4m rush for caviar
A tonne of caviar has been put up for auction in Britain by Iran and is expected to make more than £4m.
Iranian caviar is among the best in the annual £50m global trade but is seldom available in Britain. The publicly advertised sale was described as highly unusual by industry experts, who noted that Iran had doubled its annual production of beluga caviar, despite the scarcity of sturgeon eggs caused by overfishing.
A favourite of tsars and shahs, and more recently oligarchs, caviar is now more sought after than ever. But the elite's appetite for luxury has driven sturgeon, a fish as old as the dinosaurs, to the brink of extinction. The world population of the fish has been cut by up to 70 per cent in recent decades, according to WWF, formerly the World Wide Fund for Nature.
The beluga, the biggest sturgeon, is now so rare that little more than 100 a year are caught. Their eggs have a market value of nearly £500 per 50g, so Iran's sale of 200kg of the 'black gold' should fetch £2m or more. Iran is also selling 700kg of oscietre caviar and 100kg of sevruga caviar. (Guardian)
Saturday, May 17, 2008
MoD lobbies to keep 'smart' cluster bombs
The British government is deeply divided over its policy on cluster bombs on the eve of international negotiations about a ban, the Guardian has learned.
The split sets the Ministry of Defence, which wants to retain two types of cluster munitions in the British armoury, against Downing Street and the Foreign Office, which want to honour Gordon Brown's pledge last year "to work internationally for a ban" on those weapons that cause unacceptable harm to civilians.
An international conference on cluster munitions - shells or rockets which contain several smaller bombs - begins on Monday in Dublin. Officials said it was unlikely British divisions would be resolved by then. Instead, they hope the position taken by European allies could throw up a workable compromise.
Lord Malloch-Brown, the Foreign Office minister for Africa, Asia and the UN, told the Guardian: "There is an internal discussion going on in the UK as we try to maximize our offer for the [Dublin] negotiation." However, the former UN deputy secretary-general admitted being "uncomfortable" about a compromise that would leave some cluster bombs in the UK arsenal.
"The source of my discomfort is that I'm used to being able to get on my UN high horse and beat up countries about having clean, clear positions on this," said Malloch-Brown. "I'm now caught in the fact if you are a national government there are real issues you have to work through to get the best position you can."(Guardian)
Labels: U.K., U.N., Weapons Ban
Carey makes new Iraq hostage plea
Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey has made a direct appeal urging those holding five British hostages in Iraq to free them.
In a video, released through the Times newspaper, he addressed the kidnappers as "honourable men" and "men of faith".
The four guards and a computer expert were seized in Baghdad on 29 May 2007.
Whitehall sources told the BBC Lord Carey, who made a similar appeal last year, did not speak for the government and it preferred discreet negotiation.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said the government was doing everything it could "to secure the safe release of the hostages".
The former Archbishop, speaking in English and Arabic, recorded his appeal on Friday at the House of Lords, accompanied by Canon Andrew White, his former Middle East envoy and now Anglican chaplain to Iraq, the Times said.
"I greet you as honourable men. I greet you as men of faith. I believe, as you do, that faith is important in this broken world," Lord Carey said.
"I appeal to you, as good people, to release these men who long to be back home once more." (BBC)
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Public inquiry into Iraqi's death
A UK public inquiry will be held into the death of Iraqi civilian Baha Mousa, the government has announced.
Mr Mousa died while in British Army detention after being taken into custody in Basra in September 2003.
Defence Secretary Des Browne told MPs an inquiry "will reassure the public that we are leaving no stone unturned in investigating his tragic death".
Lawyers for Mr Mousa's relatives said other alleged cases of manslaughter and torture should also be examined.
Mr Mousa, a hotel receptionist, died after being taken into custody.
His post-mortem examination showed he suffered asphyxiation and had some 93 injuries to his body.
Mr Browne, announcing the inquiry, said: "A public inquiry into the death of Baha Mousa is the right thing to do.
"The Army has nothing to hide in this respect and is keen to learn all the lessons it can from this terrible incident." (BBC)
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Iran arrests group for mosque blast, blames West
Iran has arrested members of a terrorist group with links to Britain and the United States who were behind a blast at a mosque last month that killed 14 and wounded 200 in the southern city of Shiraz, a news agency said.
Iranian officials had previously said the April 12 blast, in the Shohada mosque during an evening prayer sermon by a prominent local cleric, was caused by explosives left over from an exhibition commemorating the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.
"The blast ... was caused by a bombing by a terrorist group with links to Western countries, especially Britain and America," ISNA news agency quoted Intelligence Minister Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei as saying late on Wednesday.
Five or six people were arrested, including the main culprit who was trying to flee the country, Mohseni-Ejei said. The group was found with weapons and "intended to carry out similar acts in other places," he said.
"The group, which has relations to Western countries including Britain and America, has carried out other terrorist activities in the country in the past few years," he said. (Reuters)
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Iranian resistance wins ruling against UK ban
An Iranian resistance group claimed victory on Wednesday in a seven-year legal battle when three top judges upheld a ruling that the British government was wrong to ban it as a terrorist organization.
The judges at the Court of Appeal threw out a government challenge to a ruling last November that its refusal to remove the People's Mujahideen Organisation of Iran (PMOI) from its list of proscribed terrorist organizations was perverse.
The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Nicholas Phillips, said the appeal bid by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith had "no reasonable prospect of success", and added: "The appropriate course is to dismiss her application."
Maryam Rajavi, head of the PMOI's political wing, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, told Reuters: "The ruling proves the terror label against the PMOI was unjust."
In a telephone interview from Paris, she said: "Western governments and the UK owe the Iranian people and the resistance an apology for this disgraceful labeling. It's time for them to recognize the Iranian people's struggle for democracy." (Reuters)
BAE wants review of SFO inquiry
BAE Systems is urging the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to review its abandoned investigation into the company's £43bn arms deal with Saudi Arabia.
BAE chairman Dick Olver said he wanted the SFO to seek senior legal advice on whether it could mount a successful prosecution against his company.
Mr Olver told the BBC he believed a review of files would show there was little chance of success in the case.
The SFO dropped its inquiry over fears it would threaten national security.
It abandoned its probe of the al-Yamamah deal with Saudi Arabia 18 months ago following representations from the government.
Ministers feared failure to do so would increase the risk of a terrorist outrage - because Saudi Arabia was threatening to withdraw security cooperation.
Last month, the High Court ruled it was unlawful for the SFO to abandon the case on those grounds - though the SFO has since appealed to the House of Lords. (BBC)
Labels: Saudi Arabia, U.K.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Guantanamo man says UK knew he would be tortured
British intelligence knew in advance that a former London janitor now awaiting trial by a U.S. military commission in Guantanamo Bay would be tortured in an Arab country to extract evidence, his lawyers allege.
Lawyers for Ethiopian-born Binyam Mohamed, 29, filed a High Court case on Tuesday to try to force the British government to give evidence that would help his defense to expected charges before the tribunal at the U.S. detention camp on Cuba.
They say a British security official interviewed Mohamed after he was arrested in Pakistan in April 2002, and told him he would be transferred to an Arab country and tortured.
Mohamed says he was flown to Morocco in July 2002 on a CIA plane and held there for 18 months, during which time he says he was repeatedly stripped naked and cut with a scalpel on his chest and penis. He was transferred to Afghanistan in 2004 and finally, later that year, to Guantanamo. (Reuters)
Labels: Guantanamo, Torture, U.K., U.S.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Documents show UK post-WWII dilemma over Jewish refugees
Documents released Monday show how the British government tried to send thousands of Palestine-bound Jewish survivors of the Nazi genocide back to postwar Germany without inflaming world opinion.
Could it be done? The answer was no. It was just two years after the end of the war and the world was outraged by the systematic murder of 6 million Jews by the Nazis in what became known as the Holocaust.
Despite the best efforts of early spin doctors to portray the move in the most sympathetic light, the decision to turn away the more than 4,500 Jews on board the Exodus refugee ship turned into a humanitarian and public relations debacle for Britain.
The story is detailed in more than 400 pages of formerly secret documents at Britain's National Archives made available to the public on Monday.
The Jews aboard the Exodus were trying to enter Palestine illegally during the tumultuous months in 1947 before the United Nations voted to create a Jewish homeland in part of Palestine.
Britain was still governing Palestine and the British government felt it had to keep the immigrants out to preserve the demographic balance between Arab and Jew. But Britain did not have a safe place to send the Jews from the Exodus, who were placed on three smaller British steamers. (AP)
Labels: Germany, Israel, Palestine, U.K.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Iran to UK: Don't cross "red lines" in atomic offer
Iran told Britain not to cross any "red lines" when preparing incentives for the Islamic Republic aimed at ending a row with the West over Tehran's nuclear program, the Iranian foreign minister said on Saturday.
World powers met in London on Friday and said they would offer new incentives to encourage Iran to halt nuclear work which the West fears is aimed at building atomic bombs.
Iran refused the last such offer made in 2006 and officials have in the past described a demand that Iran suspend its uranium enrichment program as a "red line". They say it is Iran's right to carry out such work and say the aim is peaceful.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr said he met his British counterpart, David Miliband, in Kuwait recently. Britain and Iran attended a multilateral meeting there on Iraq last month.
Miliband had said world powers would meet in May and planned to "write a letter" to Tehran, Mottaki said.
"I told him that 'You have used a word, and I think it is a forbidden word ... Don't pass those red lines. Be careful about that'," Mottaki said without saying what those "red lines" were. (Reuters)
Labels: Iran, Nuclear Power, U.K.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Iran to be offered new incentives
Major world powers are to offer Iran updated incentives to stop enriching uranium and end fears it is seeking a nuclear arsenal.
The agreement on a new package was announced by UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband after talks between foreign ministers in London.
He said no details would be made public before the offer was made to Tehran.
Iran, which says it is seeking civilian nuclear energy, is under UN sanctions for continuing to enrich uranium.
Friday's deal was agreed by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the US, Russia, China, the UK and France - plus Germany.
All were represented by their foreign ministers except for China, which sent a deputy minister.
"We are united in our belief that the threat posed by this enrichment programme to stability is very serious and it's one that we want to address directly," Mr Miliband said. (BBC)
Labels: China, France, Iran, Nuclear Power, Russia, U.K., U.N.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Guantanamo, Pakistan detainees plan to sue Britain
Lawyers for former detainees are preparing to sue the British government and intelligence services for alleged complicity in abuse of terrorism suspects by the United States and Pakistan.
The cases, if they reach court, would be among the first anywhere to examine alleged wrongdoing by spy agencies in the U.S.-led "war on terrorism". Similar lawsuits in the United States have been thrown out on grounds of national security.
Lawyers for eight former inmates of the U.S. Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba are launching proceedings to sue Britain for alleged complicity with their abduction, ill-treatment and interrogation, sources familiar with the case say.
Five are British and three are foreign nationals living in Britain. (Reuters)
Labels: Guantanamo, Torture, U.K., U.S.
Drugs for guns: how the Afghan heroin trade is fuelling the Taliban insurgency
The heroin flooding Britain's streets is threatening the lives of UK troops in Afghanistan, an Independent investigation can reveal.
Russian gangsters who smuggle drugs into Britain are buying cheap heroin from Afghanistan and paying for it with guns. Smugglers told The Independent how Russian arms dealers meet Taliban drug lords at a bazaar near the old Afghan-Soviet border, deep in Tajikistan's desert. The bazaar exists solely to trade Afghan drugs for Russian guns – and sometimes a bit of sex on the side.
The drugs are destined for Britain's streets. The guns go straight to the Taliban front line. The weapons on sale include machine guns, sniper rifles and anti-aircraft weapons like the ones used in the attempt to assassinate the Afghan President Hamid Karzai last weekend.
"We never sell the drugs for money," boasted one of the smugglers. "We exchange them for ammunition and Kalashnikovs." (Independent)
Labels: Afghanistan, Taliban, U.K.
Opec warns oil could reach $200
Opec, the oil producing cartel, has warned that the price of crude could keep rising to reach $200 a barrel.
Opec president Chakib Khelil blamed the falling value of the US dollar, which makes other assets, including oil, more attractive for foreign investors.
His comments came as oil prices hit a fresh high, just below $120 a barrel.
Prices were lifted by a strike at a UK refinery that disrupted North Sea production, and supply problems in Nigeria due to pipeline attacks.
BP shut down a key North Sea pipeline at the weekend after staff walked out of the Grangemouth refinery in Scotland in a two-day strike over pensions.
Providing a third of UK oil output, the closure of the Forties pipeline has raised fears about supply shortages. (BBC)
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Girl, 17, killed in Iraq for loving a British soldier
A 17-year-old Iraqi girl was murdered by her father in an honour killing after falling in love with a British soldier she met while working on an aid programme in Basra, it has been claimed.
Rand Abdel-Qader was stamped upon, suffocated and stabbed by her father, then given an unceremonious burial to emphasise her disgrace. Police released her father without charge two hours after his arrest.
"Not much can be done when we have an honour killing case," said Sergeant Ali Jabbar of Basra police. "You are in a Muslim society and women should live under religious laws. The father has very good contacts inside the Basra government and it wasn't hard for him to be released and what he did to be forgotten."
A total of 47 young women died in honour killings in the city last year, Basra Security Committee told an investigation into Ms Abdel-Qader's case by The Observer. This is believed to be the only case of an honour killing involving a British soldier.
The MoD had no official advice for troops on how to behave with Iraqi women. The serviceman involved would not have been told that any relationship with her could put her life at risk, the paper said. (Independent)
Labels: Iraq, U.K., Womens Rights
Head of Army defends Britain's role in Basra in open letter to his troops
The head of the British Army has taken the unusual step of writing an open letter to his troops in which he defends Britain's low-key role during an offensive against Shia militias in Basra.
The message from General Sir Richard Dannatt, made available to The Independent on Sunday, is intended to reassure troops in the face of claims that the British presence at Basra airport is increasingly untenable, and that the Iraqi government supposedly snubbed senior UK commanders during the recent operation.
The Chief of the General Staff, who has just returned from Basra, stated: "I cannot deny that there are many who said that they would rather be at the forefront of the operations (as CGS I think I would be worried if I headed an Army that did not express such views), but those same individuals were all mature enough to understand it is right that the Iraqis are now taking the lead.
"Indeed, these are exactly the nature of operations that we have been pressing for some months – an Iraqi solution to an Iraqi problem".
The Iraqi government operation in Basra was criticised for being poorly planned and executed, with reports of Shia soldiers deserting to the Mehdi Army of the radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. But General Dannatt states: "Having visited Iraq and talked to many of those involved, I have concluded that this is unreasonable and ignores the complexity of dealing with determined adversaries in challenging counter-insurgency operations. (Independent)
Thursday, April 24, 2008
UK-Saudi arms case appeal approved
Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has been allowed to contest a high court ruling that it acted unlawfully when it dropped a corruption inquiry into an arms deal between Saudi Arabia and the UK's BAE Systems in the 1980s and 1990s.
Judges on Thursday quashed the SFO's decision to drop the investigation, but gave the agency the go-ahead to appeal to the House of Lords, the UK's highest court.
The SFO had been investigating deals between British Aerospace Engineering and the Saudi government in which BAE was alleged to have paid millions of dollars to Saudi officials.
The investigation was dropped after Saudi Arabia threatened to stop sharing intelligence with Britain.
Earlier this month two high court judges described the government's dropping of the investigation as 'abject surrender' to Saudi threats. (Al Jazeera)
Labels: Saudi Arabia, U.K.
British troop withdrawals remain frozen
Britain said Thursday that it will keep troop withdrawals from Iraq frozen for months because of an upsurge in fighting with Shiite militias. Iraqi officials said fresh clashes between militiamen and Iraqi and U.S.-led forces had killed at least 13 people.
British Defense Secretary Des Browne informed Parliament of the continued freeze as Foreign Secretary David Miliband held closed-door meetings with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Baghdad.
The British Embassy confirmed Miliband's previously unannounced visit but declined to release any other information due to security concerns.
Britain has around 4,500 troops in Iraq, most based at an airport camp near the southern city of Basra. Britain suspended plans to withdraw about 1,500 troops this spring after fighting broke out last month between Iraqi forces and Shiite militiamen. (AP)
Sunday, April 20, 2008
British dealers supply arms to Iran
Investigators have identified a number of British arms dealers trading with Tehran, triggering alarm among government officials who fear Iran's nuclear programme may be receiving significant support from UK sources.
The probe by customs officers suggests that at least seven Britons have been defying sanctions by supplying the Iranian air force, its elite Revolutionary Guard Corps, and even the country's controversial nuclear ambitions.
Officials say they are perturbed by the number of British dealers who appear to be trading with Tehran, despite a third round of restrictions being recently imposed by the United Nations on exporting arms and components to Iran. However, investigators argue that it is the generous riches being offered by Iran, not any shared ideology, that is seducing the dealers. (Guardian)
Monday, April 14, 2008
Iraqi shot by soldier receives £2m payout
An Iraqi man seriously injured when he was accidentally shot by a British soldier has been awarded £2m compensation by the Government in a move which could pave the way for similar claims.
The young man's case – the exact details of which remain sketchy for legal reasons – is "exceptional" because of its "severity", according to the Ministry of Defence.
The as-yet-unnamed victim was left paralysed with severe spinal injuries soon after the invasion of Iraq in September 2003 when a British soldier – one of a group he had befriended – accidentally dropped his gun and the weapon fired.
The Government accepted the shot in question was a "negligent discharge" when the Iraqi man moved to Britain after the incident to pursue his case in the courts here. The final settlement is still awaiting a further High Court hearing.
After the case was highlighted on Channel 4 News last night, a spokesman for the MoD said: "It is not a precedent – it is an exceptional case. It is not expected that there are any other cases of such severity."
However, the award, which is higher than any paid to Iraqis who made compensation claims against the British through their own courts, could set a precedent, according to some MPs. (Independent)
Blair: Int'l aid would flow into Gaza if political change occured
Middle East envoy Tony Blair said on Monday if the political situation in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip changed, it could get a share of the international aid that has helped the West Bank grow.
"It's worth repeating on behalf of the international community that if the situation could only change there, there would also be an enormous desire to help people in Gaza too, not just people in the West Bank," said Blair, an envoy for the Quartet of Middle East peace mediators.
Hamas Islamists, shunned by the West over their refusal to recognize Israel and renounce violence, took over the Gaza Strip from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' secular Fatah faction in fighting last June.
Blair, a former British prime minister, spoke at a signing ceremony establishing a mortgage company that will help Palestinians buy homes in a new $1.5 billion housing project.
The plan calls for the building of 30,000 affordable apartments in the West Bank and for $500 million to be available in long-term mortgages. (Haaretz)
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Refugees fight forced return to Iraq war zones
The United Nations last night accused the government of holding a 'sword of Damocles' over the heads of Iraqi refugees in Britain after it emerged that the Home Office had won a landmark test case giving it the power to return refugees to war-torn parts of their home country, including Basra and Baghdad.
The ruling, which is being studied closely by other European countries, has alarmed refugee support groups, who say it means asylum seekers from war zones could be returned to other dangerous countries, such as Somalia.
The Refugee Legal Centre has launched an urgent appeal against the ruling by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal, which it says paves the way for the removal of the majority of Iraqi asylum seekers in the UK.
'If we didn't appeal the tribunal's decision, the government would have a free hand to forcibly remove hundreds of Iraqi civilians to Baghdad,' said Caroline Slocock, chief executive of the legal centre. (Guardian)
Labels: Iraq, Refugees, U.K., U.N.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Ending Saudi deal probe 'unlawful'
A fraud office within the British government acted unlawfully in ending investigations into arms deals with Saudi Arabia, two judges have ruled.
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) had called off an investigation into allegations of bribery and corruption in relations between BAE Systems, a British weapons manufacturer, and the Saudi government.
But the judges on Thursday allowed a legal challenge to go ahead by the Corner House Research Group and the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CATT), over the SFO's handling of the case.
The campaign groups say there was "very large scale bribery" of senior Saudi Arabian officials by BAE Systems over military aircraft deals, known as the Al Yamamah contracts.
BAE Systems was alleged to have held a multimillion pound (dollar) "slush" fund to buy support for contracts from Saudi officials. (Al Jazeera)
Labels: Saudi Arabia, U.K.
UK dismayed after Jordanian wins deportation appeal
A Jordanian man described by Britain as a "significant international terrorist" won a court appeal on Wednesday against deportation.
Abu Qatada, linked by Britain to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, is one of a group of Middle Eastern men the government has been attempting to deport on grounds of national security, while acknowledging it does not have sufficient evidence to put them on trial.
The Court of Appeal also upheld the cases of two Libyan men against deportation. The rulings are a setback to British efforts to deport suspected Islamist militants to nations where human rights groups argue they would be at risk of torture. (Reuters)
Labels: Al Qaeda, Jordan, U.K.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Al-Qa'ida planner linked to UK plots 'is dead'
Senior al-Qa'ida planner Obaidah al Masri, considered a key suspect in the 2005 London subway and underground bombings and a foiled 2006 plot to blow up commercial airliners, is believed to have died, a US official said today.
"The sense is that he is dead," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. McClatchy newspapers reported that Masri died of hepatitis in Pakistan. The official said Masri appeared to have died of natural causes.
"He was a major operational figure," the US official said of al Masri, a pseudonym.
He confirmed that Masri was suspected in the plot to blow up airliners over the Atlantic Ocean. The Washington Post in 2006 also said he was believed to be al-Qa'ida's conduit to British-Pakistani cells that carried out the 7 July attacks in London in 2005. The bombings killed 56 people. (Independent)
Law lords reject mothers' bid to force Iraq inquiry
The law lords today dismissed an attempt by the mothers of two soldiers killed in Iraq to force the government to hold a public inquiry into the war.
The panel of nine lords agreed unanimously to rule against the appeal, lodged on behalf of Beverley Clarke and Rose Gentle.
However, one of the panel cast considerable doubt on the government's arguments as to why the March 2003 invasion was legal - the issue at the centre of the case.
Baroness Hale said she found the legal advice given to the government at the time by then-attorney general Lord Goldsmith "very far from [being] clear and unambiguous". She was ruling against the case "with sorrow", she added.
The case was based around whether the government was right to send troops to war without a new UN security council resolution. (Guardian)
Labels: Iraq, U.K., U.N., U.S.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Research explores what 1.3 billion Muslims think
In the years since the September 11 attacks on the United States, much has been said about the Muslim world, but little, it is argued, has been gathered on what Muslims truly think of the West.
Now Gallup, the global polling group, has conducted research in 35 Muslim countries, interviewing more than 50,000 people over a six-year period, to come up with what it is calling the first comprehensive survey of Muslim world opinion.
The results, published in a book called "Who Speaks for Islam? What a billion Muslims really think", provide often surprising clues as to how Muslims perceive the West and how misunderstanding on both sides -- often perpetuated by politicians and the media -- can fuel suspicion and conflict.
"The conflict between Muslims and Western communities is far from inevitable," co-author Dalia Mogahed said on Monday, laying out one of the fundamental conclusions she and John Esposito, a professor at Georgetown University, drew from the reams of data. (Reuters)
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Iraqi casualties at highest level since August
Fighting between security forces and Shi'ite militiamen last month has driven civilian deaths in Iraq to their highest level in more than six months, government figures showed on Tuesday.
Britain responded to renewed violence in the southern city of Basra by delaying plans to bring home 1,500 of its 4,000 troops in Iraq.
A total of 923 civilians were killed in March, up 31 percent from February and the deadliest month since August 2007, according to data compiled by Iraq's interior, defense and health ministries and obtained by Reuters.
The figures are a blow to the Iraqi government and the United States, which have pointed to reduced overall levels of violence in recent months as evidence that a major security offensive has made significant progress. (Reuters)
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Plans to cut UK troops in Iraq put on hold
The defence secretary, Des Browne, is today expected to abandon plans to cut the number of British troops in Iraq.
The secretary of state will make a Commons statement in which he is widely predicted to announce a delay in the promised cut in troop levels, following a recent surge in fighting in Basra.
Speaking ahead of the defence secretary's statement, the prime minister, Gordon Brown, said at his monthly Downing Street press conference that the government would review the situation, taking into consideration the recent clashes between Iraqi forces and Shia militias.
"We will make our decision on the basis of military advice on the ground," he said. (Guardian)
Sunday, March 30, 2008
British and US forces drawn into battle for Basra
The US is facing a new crisis in Iraq that may determine the outcome of the presidential election, as American military forces are drawn into supporting the Iraqi government's faltering attempt to crush the main Shia militia.
A US warplane strafed a house in Basra killing eight civilians, including two women and a child, Iraqi police said yesterday. The house was in the city's Hananiyah district, which is a stronghold of the Mehdi Army militia of the Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
British forces became directly involved in the battle yesterday after artillery in the British headquarters at Basra airport fired on a mortar crew in the city. Previously, the British Army had limited itself to providing logistical and air support for the assault on the militia. (Independent)
Friday, March 28, 2008
UK apologises over Iraq abuses
Britain will admit in the country's high court that troops breached parts of the European human rights convention with regard to an Iraqi prisoner who died in custody in Basra in 2003.
Des Browne, the British defence secretary, said that the ministry of defence would also on Friday admit breaching the rights of eight other Iraqi deatinees.
Bob Ainsworth, armed forces minister, said: "I deeply regret the actions of a very small number of troops and I offer my sincere apologies and sympathy to the family of Baha Mousa and the other eight Iraqi detainees."
Mousa, a 26-year-old hotel worker, suffocated when he was forced to the floor with his arms behind his back as soldiers tried to cuff him, prosecutors said last September. (Al Jazeera)
Thursday, March 27, 2008
MoD: British soldiers breached Iraqi's human rights
British soldiers breached the human rights of an Iraqi who died while in UK custody in Basra more than four years ago, the defence secretary, Des Browne, said today.
Baha Mousa, a hotel receptionist, suffered 93 injuries and died screaming in custody, witness statements read to the high court said.
Browne said the Ministry of Defence would also admit to violating the rights of eight other Iraqi men in September 2003 at a high court hearing due to take place on Friday.
Over the last few months, the court has heard harrowing accounts of the treatment of Iraqis by British troops in Basra.
Mousa was one of several men seized from a hotel when it was raided, and weapons were recovered, in 2003. (Guardian)
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Airlift will bring 2,000 hand-picked Iraqis to new life in Britain
The government is preparing to airlift up to 2,000 Iraqis out of their country to begin a new life in the UK, the first time that Iraqis will arrive here with their status as refugees assured.
Those hand-picked to come to Britain include translators and other staff who have supported British forces in Iraq. The plan follows controversy last year about the government refusing many interpreters sanctuary in the UK despite the fact their work could put their lives in danger.
Documents seen by the Guardian show the Home Office and Ministry of Defence are working with Migrant Helpline, a charity which provides advice and support for refugees and asylum seekers, to help the Iraqis to settle.
The scheme is due to run over a seven-month period beginning in April, with fortnightly flights of up to 100 people. (Guardian)
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Building peace in Iraq harder than expected, says Miliband (Guardian)
David Miliband, the foreign secretary, said yesterday that building peace in Iraq had been "much more difficult" than expected, but he did not blame the US for mistakes now widely accepted as allowing the insurgency to flourish.
Speaking on the fifth anniversary of the invasion, Miliband said: "I think the war itself was a remarkable victory. It went better than most people expected. But the truth is that building the peace after the war has been much more difficult than people expected."
As anti-war campaigners demanded the immediate withdrawal of British troops, the foreign secretary added: "The truth is, it's been very tough to help build a more stable society in Iraq but I think the indications over the last year or two have been more encouraging about the changes."
He told GMTV: "The amount of trade that is going on is up, the economic situation has improved, and that, in a way, is a function of the security improvement." (Link)