Iraq troops 'warned on treatment'

Detainees were pictured by soldiers as they were captured

The senior commanding officer of three soldiers accused of abusing Iraqis has told their court martial he warned his troops to treat civilians humanely.

The soldiers are accused of abusing and assaulting Iraqi looters at an aid camp in Basra, southern Iraq, in May 2003.

Col David Paterson said he told all his troops that Iraqis should be treated "within the rules of war".

The court heard another officer had ordered the soldiers to give the looters "a thrashing".

I wanted my troops to be absolutely clear ... prisoners of war were to be treated properly at all times Col David Paterson

Regimental Sergeant Major Wilton Brown said the order - meaning the looters should be made to do hard physical exercise - came from the officer in charge of the men, Major Dan Taylor.

"In the context it was said in, it was to get hold of them and give them a hard time, work them as we brought them back in," RSM Brown said.

In court on Monday, Maj Taylor denied using the word "thrash", but admitted ordering that looters be "worked hard".

Cpl Kenyon, centre, and L/Cpl Cooley, right, deny the charges

The charges stem from an operation to round up and deter looters who were stealing humanitarian aid from the camp.

L/Cpl Darren Larkin, of Oldham, Greater Manchester, admits one charge of assaulting a prisoner but denies another charge.

Cpl Kenyon and L/Cpl Cooley, both of Newcastle upon Tyne, deny all the charges they face. The soldiers are all from the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.

'Rules of war'

Col Paterson told their court martial in Osnabrueck, Germany, that he had made a speech to his troops on the night before the war began, telling them it was a war of liberation not conquest.

He told them prisoners and civilians should be dealt with "humanely and within the rules of war", he said.

He warned them that Iraqis would judge them by what they saw.

"I wanted my troops to be absolutely clear that this was not something to be taken lightly and that prisoners of war were to be treated properly at all times," he told the hearing.

Col Paterson said he had not been properly briefed about the operation to deter the looters, dubbed Operation Ali Baba.

"The looters were going to be rounded up at first light and then brought back into the camp," he said.

The court was shown 22 photos depicting alleged abuse

"I had assumed they would then be handed to the Royal Military Police. Obviously, I now know they were not."

He said he had told his soldiers before the operation that no "novel solutions" were to be used against looters.

He admitted approving orders by a junior officer to detain the looters, but said he was unaware that forcing them to clear the site of rubbish breached the Geneva Convention.

He said he did not remember Maj Taylor telling him that looters would be "put to work" once they were caught.

Under defence cross-examination earlier on Tuesday, it was claimed Maj Taylor destroyed his notebooks of his time at the camp two weeks before the hearing began because they "proved he was not telling the truth".

Maj Taylor said the books contained no relevant information about the case.

The hearing continues.