HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Nadhem Abdullah (died May 2003) was an Iraqi man who died after an alleged encounter with soldiers from 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 ...
's
3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment The 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment (3 PARA), is a battalion sized formation of the British Army's Parachute Regiment and is a subordinate unit within 16 Air Assault Brigade. Roled as an Airborne light infantry unit, the battalion is capable ...
(3 PARA). The regiment had participated in the 2003 invasion of Iraq as part of the
Multi-National Force – Iraq The Multi-National Force – Iraq (MNF–I), often referred to as the Coalition forces, was a U.S.-led military command during the Iraq War from 2004 to 2009. The vast majority of MNF-I was made up of United States Army forces. However it also ...
. In May 2003, a British patrol consisting of soldiers from 3 PARA entered the village of Uzayra in southern
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 ...
where a violent encounter allegedly ensued between the patrol and local villagers, which resulted in Abdullah's death. After the incident, seven soldiers from the patrol were
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 arme ...
ed in
Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...
,
Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...
in 2005, three of whom had already left the Army. QC Martin Heslop, who was responsible for prosecuting the defendants, claimed that they "brutally assaulted a number of unarmed Iraqi civilians, causing causing serious injuries from which one died", and "the paratroopers had been in pursuit of a white pick-up truck when they passed a white
Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...
containing Mr Abdullah and Athar Saddam" and boxed in the vehicle before "dragging the deceased and the driver out and attacking them". Heslop also claimed that the soldiers had faced no hostility from Abdullah and the incident was "nothing more than gratuitous violence meted out on a number of innocent and unarmed Iraqi civilians". The defendants denied the charges, and in response to public queries, the British
Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...
(MoD) said it could not give out the defendants' addresses for security reasons. The court-martial lasted until 3 November 2005, when the president judge in the trial,
Jeff Blackett Jeffrey Blackett (born 20 May 1955) is a British former judge and Royal Navy officer with the rank of Commodore. He was Judge Advocate General of the Armed Forces from 2004 to 2020 and among the cases over which he presided was that of "Marine A ...
, directed the panel which heard the court martial to return not guilty verdicts on the defendants after criticising the "inadequate" investigation into the case. Blackett noted that though the prosecutors had presented their case "properly and objectively", "it has become clear to everyone involved as the trial has progressed that the main Iraqi witnesses had colluded to exaggerate and lie about the incident." He further stated that three Iraqi witnesses had admitted to making false claims of being assaulted by British soldiers and one Iraqi witness testified that Abdullah's family "encouraged others to tell lies", adding that witnesses who were some distance from the scene "could not possibly have seen what they said they saw" and used the case to seek "compensation to what were patently exaggerated claims". The court heard that Iraqi witnesses were paid $100 per day to give evidence at the trial and that some only agreed to give evidence after being told they would be paid. MoD spokesmen, in response to the not guilty verdict, said that Blackett "made clear that on the basis of the evidence provided very serious allegations had been made and that it was perfectly proper to take the matter to trial", adding that soldiers were not above the law and it was right that the allegations had been "followed up and the evidence tested in full".
Solicitor A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to p ...
s for the defendants argued that there had not been strong enough evidence to take the case to trial, with one solicitor, Roger Brice, telling the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
that "What the judge has done today is stop the case when the prosecution have concluded... there was never a case for any of the defendants to answer. He summed up the fact that the evidence as it came out in these last two months has been one of acknowledged lies." BBC correspondent Paul Adams said there was an "underlying sense" that some of the witnesses were "out to try and get something for themselves", and added that " number of questions were going to be asked about why the trial had been mounted".


References

2003 deaths 20th-century Iraqi people 21st-century Iraqi people Iraq War crimes by the United Kingdom Deaths by person in Iraq May 2003 in Iraq 2003 crimes in Iraq {{Iraq War