Corporal Donald Payne (born 9 September 1970) is a

war criminal A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...

and former soldier of the

Queen's Lancashire Regiment The Queen's Lancashire Regiment (30th, 40th, 47th, 59th, 81st and 82nd Regiments of Foot) (QLR) was an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the King's Division. It was formed on 25 March 1970 at Connaught Barracks, Dover, Connaught ...

and later the

Duke of Lancaster's Regiment The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (King's, Lancashire and Border) (LANCS) is an infantry regiment of the line within the British Army, part of the King's Division. Headquartered in Preston, it recruits throughout the North West of England. The ...

of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

who became the first member of the

British armed forces The British Armed Forces are the unified military, military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its British Overseas Territories, Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests ...

to be convicted of a

war crime A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...

under the provisions of the

International Criminal Court Act 2001 The International Criminal Court Act 2001 (c. 17) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The act incorporates into English law and Northern Ireland law the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The principal aims of the ...

when he pleaded guilty on 19 September 2006 to a charge of inhumane treatment of a prisoner. He was jailed for one year and dismissed from the Army.

Service career

Donald Payne joined the British Army on 5 June 1988, enlisting with the

, which subsequently amalgamated into the 1st Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment. He was promoted to the substantive rank of

Corporal Corporal is a military rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The rank is usually the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer. In some militaries, the rank of corporal nominally corr ...

on 30 June 2000. As an NCO he worked as a Provost Corporal with the Regimental Provost in

Catterick Garrison Catterick Garrison is a major garrison and List of modern military towns, military town south of Richmond, North Yorkshire, Richmond, North Yorkshire, England. It is the largest British Army garrison in the world, with a population of around 14 ...

. He also served in Iraq, South

Armagh Armagh ( ; , , " Macha's height") is a city and the county town of County Armagh, in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Primates of All ...

, and the

Former Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

He had earned the following decorations/awards: General Service Medal with Northern Ireland clasp,

NATO Medal The NATO Medal is an international military decoration which is awarded to various militaries of the world under the authority of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It is manufactured by Eekelers-Centini Intl, of Hemiksem, Belgium. Ba ...

with Former Yugoslavia clasp, Accumulated Campaign Service Medal, The Queen's Jubilee Medal and the Iraq Medal His service career ended on 30 April 2007 when he was reduced to the ranks and dismissed from Her Majesty's armed forces for his conduct in Iraq.

War crimes

On 14 September 2003, a number of

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

is were detained by British forces in raids on hotels in

Basra Basra () is a port city in Iraq, southern Iraq. It is the capital of the eponymous Basra Governorate, as well as the List of largest cities of Iraq, third largest city in Iraq overall, behind Baghdad and Mosul. Located near the Iran–Iraq bor ...

. The

detainee Detention is the process whereby a state or private citizen holds a person by removing or restricting their freedom or liberty at that time. Detention can be due to (pending) criminal charges against the individual pursuant to a prosecution or ...

s were taken to a three-room building in Basra, where they were questioned for 36 hours. Among the detainees was

Baha Mousa Baha Mousa was an Iraqi man who died while in British Army custody in Basra, Iraq in September 2003. The inquiry into his death found that Mousa's death was caused by "factors including lack of food and water, heat, exhaustion, fear, previous inju ...

, a 26-year-old employee of the Haitham Hotel in Basra, who died as a result of the

interrogation Interrogation (also called questioning) is interviewing as commonly employed by law enforcement officers, military personnel, intelligence agencies, organized crime syndicates, and terrorist organizations with the goal of eliciting useful informa ...

. The subsequent post-mortem found 93 injuries, including fractured ribs and a broken nose. Detainees claimed that the British soldiers had held kicking competitions, competing to see who could kick the prisoners the furthest. Prisoners were also made to assume

stress positions A stress position, also known as a submission position, is a form of punishment that places the human body in such a way that a great amount of weight is placed on very few muscles. For example, a subject may be forced to stand on the balls of t ...

and were beaten and kicked if they failed to do so.

Court martial

On 19 July 2005,

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

Lord Goldsmith announced that Payne was being charged with

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...

perverting the course of justice Perverting the course of justice is an offence committed when a person prevents justice from being served on themselves or on another party. In England and Wales it is a common law offence, carrying a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Stat ...

and inhumane treatment of persons under the International Criminal Court Act 2001. On the same day, another ten soldiers were also charged with similar crimes, six relating to the death of Mousa and four relating to the death of another Iraqi, Ahmed Jabber Kareem Ali, on 8 May 2003. The

Court Martial A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the mili ...

was held in

Bulford Camp Bulford Camp is a military camp on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England. Established in 1897, the site continues in use as a large British Army base. The camp is close to the village of Bulford and is about north-east of the town of Amesb ...

, Wiltshire, after an investigation by the

Royal Military Police The Royal Military Police (RMP) is the corps of the British Army responsible for the policing of army service personnel, and for providing a military police presence both in the UK and while service personnel are deployed overseas on operations ...

. It convened in the autumn of 2006, and concluded six months later in April 2007, being the most expensive Court Martial in modern British military history During the court martial, Corporal Payne admitted he "enjoyed" hearing Iraqis call out during torture, describing their cries of pain as "the choir". He was cleared of manslaughter and perverting the course of justice. Six other soldiers were cleared of any charges. After earlier pleading guilty to the offence of inhuman treatment of persons protected under the Geneva Conventions, Corporal Donald Payne was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, reduced to the ranks, and dismissed from Her Majesty's Armed Forces, on 30 April 2007. On all other charges, Cpl Payne, and the other defendants, were acquitted when the presiding judge, Mr Justice McKinnon, ruled that there was no evidence against them. Mr Justice McKinnon suggested that he believed there had been some level of covering-up with relation to the case, when he stated during the proceedings that "None of those soldiers has been charged with any offence, simply because there is no evidence against them as a result of a more or less obvious closing of ranks."

Video of Payne abusing prisoners

On 13 July 2009, a video reportedly showing Cpl Payne abusing Iraqi prisoners was released as part of the evidence being presented to the public inquiry into the death of Baha Mousa. The video reportedly shows Cpl Payne forcing hooded and bound prisoners into stress positions, pushing and shoving prisoners, and aggressively shouting obscenities at them whilst they clearly vocalise their distress. Procedures shown in the video were banned from use by British military personnel on 2 March 1972, by

Edward Heath Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 1916 – 17 July 2005) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 ...

, the

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

at the time, after IRA internees in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

were subjected to similar techniques. The ban was announced the day the Parker Report was published and found them to be illegal under English law. In 1978 in the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...

in "

Ireland v. the United Kingdom The five techniques, also known as deep interrogation, are a group of interrogation methods developed by the United Kingdom during the 20th century and are currently regarded as a form of torture. Originally developed by British forces in a vari ...

" (Case No. 5310/71) found the techniques used in Northern Ireland "amounted to

inhuman and degrading treatment Cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment (CIDT) is treatment of persons which is contrary to human rights or dignity, but is not classified as torture. It is forbidden by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Hu ...

".Ireland v. the United Kingdom
paragraph 167Richard Norton-Taylor
'Get up you ape' – video reveals abuse of Iraqi prisoners by British soldier
guardian.co.uk, Monday 13 July 2009

References

External links

Video of Donald Payne Abusing Iraqi Prisoners
{{DEFAULTSORT:Payne, Donald 1970 births Living people Duke of Lancaster's Regiment soldiers British Army personnel of the Iraq War British Army personnel who were court-martialled British people convicted of torture British people convicted of war crimes Queen's Lancashire Regiment soldiers Prisoners and detainees of the British military 20th-century British Army personnel