adi 101
23rd February 2005, 17:21
Two British soldiers have been found guilty of abusing Iraqi civilian prisoners at an aid camp in Basra.
Lance Corporal Mark Cooley and Corporal Daniel Kenyon were convicted by a panel of seven officers at a court martial in Germany.
The abuse by the soldiers, both from the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, was captured in shocking photographs that were published worldwide after they were used in evidence at the court martial.
What they showed was described by the judge advocate in charge of the court martial as "brutal", "cruel" and "revolting" behaviour by soldiers which had "undoubtedly tarnished the international reputation of the British Army and to some extent the British nation, too".
Kenyon was found guilty of aiding and abetting another soldier, Lance Corporal Darren Larkin, to assault a prisoner.
Cooley was found guilty of two charges, one of disgraceful conduct of a cruel kind - after he drove a forklift truck with a bound Iraqi suspended from the forks.
The second charge against Cooley was that he posed for a photograph as though about to punch a prisoner.
Kenyon was convicted of three charges - aiding and abetting Larkin to assault a prisoner, prejudicing good order and military discipline by failing to report Cooley for the forklift truck incident, and failing to report that soldiers under his command had forced two naked prisoners to simulate sex.
Kenyon and Cooley could face a term of imprisonment of up to two years, judge advocate Michael Hunter said.
The judge advocate also indicated that Larkin, also from the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers and who has already pleaded guilty to assaulting an Iraqi prisoner, faces a maximum sentence of six months in prison.
Sentencing, which will be determined jointly by the judge advocate and the panel of officers, is expected on Friday morning.
Kenyon was cleared of two charges of aiding and abetting soldiers who have never been identified to forces two naked Iraqi prisoners to simulate sex.
The verdicts came at the end of a 22-day court martial in Osnabruck, near where the soldiers are based in northern Germany.
The men stood accused of mistreating prisoners at Camp Bread Basket - a humanitarian aid facility in Basra - only two weeks after President Bush declared an end to major combat operations.
Details of the abuse came to light after a young soldier took his "trophy photographs" of the war to be developed in May 2003.
Fusilier Gary Bartlam, who was 18 at the time, took his pictures, including humiliating sexual images of naked Iraqi men, to be processed at a local shop in his home town of Tamworth, Staffordshire.
But the shop assistant was so appalled by what she saw that she contacted the police and by the time Bartlam returned to pick up his pictures, the authorities were waiting for him.
Bartlam was due to stand trial alongside three of his fellow soldiers from the Milan Platoon of the 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.
But he was tried at a separate hearing after he decided to plead guilty and turn evidence against his section commander, Corporal Kenyon, in exchange for the prosecution dropping the more serious charges against him.
Kenyon and Cooley both face up to two years in prison, while Larkin could be sentenced to six months' jail time.
Lance Corporal Mark Cooley and Corporal Daniel Kenyon were convicted by a panel of seven officers at a court martial in Germany.
The abuse by the soldiers, both from the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, was captured in shocking photographs that were published worldwide after they were used in evidence at the court martial.
What they showed was described by the judge advocate in charge of the court martial as "brutal", "cruel" and "revolting" behaviour by soldiers which had "undoubtedly tarnished the international reputation of the British Army and to some extent the British nation, too".
Kenyon was found guilty of aiding and abetting another soldier, Lance Corporal Darren Larkin, to assault a prisoner.
Cooley was found guilty of two charges, one of disgraceful conduct of a cruel kind - after he drove a forklift truck with a bound Iraqi suspended from the forks.
The second charge against Cooley was that he posed for a photograph as though about to punch a prisoner.
Kenyon was convicted of three charges - aiding and abetting Larkin to assault a prisoner, prejudicing good order and military discipline by failing to report Cooley for the forklift truck incident, and failing to report that soldiers under his command had forced two naked prisoners to simulate sex.
Kenyon and Cooley could face a term of imprisonment of up to two years, judge advocate Michael Hunter said.
The judge advocate also indicated that Larkin, also from the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers and who has already pleaded guilty to assaulting an Iraqi prisoner, faces a maximum sentence of six months in prison.
Sentencing, which will be determined jointly by the judge advocate and the panel of officers, is expected on Friday morning.
Kenyon was cleared of two charges of aiding and abetting soldiers who have never been identified to forces two naked Iraqi prisoners to simulate sex.
The verdicts came at the end of a 22-day court martial in Osnabruck, near where the soldiers are based in northern Germany.
The men stood accused of mistreating prisoners at Camp Bread Basket - a humanitarian aid facility in Basra - only two weeks after President Bush declared an end to major combat operations.
Details of the abuse came to light after a young soldier took his "trophy photographs" of the war to be developed in May 2003.
Fusilier Gary Bartlam, who was 18 at the time, took his pictures, including humiliating sexual images of naked Iraqi men, to be processed at a local shop in his home town of Tamworth, Staffordshire.
But the shop assistant was so appalled by what she saw that she contacted the police and by the time Bartlam returned to pick up his pictures, the authorities were waiting for him.
Bartlam was due to stand trial alongside three of his fellow soldiers from the Milan Platoon of the 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.
But he was tried at a separate hearing after he decided to plead guilty and turn evidence against his section commander, Corporal Kenyon, in exchange for the prosecution dropping the more serious charges against him.
Kenyon and Cooley both face up to two years in prison, while Larkin could be sentenced to six months' jail time.