British Iraq veterans 'may face prosecution'

LONDON, Jan 2: British soldiers who fought in the Iraq War may face prosecution for war crimes, the media reported on Saturday.

According to Mark Warwick, head of a unit investigating alleged abuses, there were “lots of significant cases” and that discussions would be held over whether they met a war crimes threshold.

“We would look at the credibility of the allegation in the first instance and, when we’ve looked at a lot of these extra cases coming to us, some of them are duplicates of cases, some of them we’ve already identified as part of our own investigation process, and some are multiple allegations, where we would investigate as a single allegation,” Warwick said.

Lawyers are continuing to refer alleged abuse cases by soldiers to the Iraq Historic Allegations Team (IHAT).

The ministry of defence said it took such allegations “extremely seriously”.

Two public inquiries have already looked at claims against British troops in Iraq.

“Over the next 12 to 18 months, we will review all the caseload to better understand the picture and then I think we can say whether 2019 seems realistic,” Warwick added. The inquiries have considered at least 1,515 possible victims, of whom 280 are alleged to have been unlawfully killed. (IANS)