Colonel cleared of mistreating Iraqis

COLONEL Jorge Mendonca, former commander of the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment, has said he was convinced his soldiers did “enormous good” in Iraq.

He was speaking minutes after he, along with four of his men, were cleared of charges that they mistreated civilians in Basra. Col Mendonca, the highest-ranking British serviceman in recent history to face a court martial, said it was a privilege to have been a commander.

He said: “I remain convinced that Queen’s Lancashire did enormous good in the city of Basra in 2003 and every one of my soldiers and officers worked extremely hard under indescribably difficult conditions to make Basra a better place, and I just hope that fact is not forgotten in the aftermath of this trial.”

Col Mendonca said he had served his country for 25 years and had “done my best”, but the past two years were “difficult”.

For the past five months, Col Mendonca, 43, has been standing trial for negligently performing a duty. That is, he failed to ensure his men did not mistreat Iraqi civilians detained in Basra in September 2003.

It was alleged that some of the colonel’s men abused the Iraqis, keeping them hooded, cuffed, deprived of sleep and beating them for failing to hold stress positions over 36 hours — pre-interrogation ‘conditioning’, banned under international law. One of the prisoners, Baha Musa, 26, died.

The prosecution had alleged that Col Mendonca did not do everything possible to make sure the detainees were treated properly by his men, according to the Geneva Convention and the Laws of Armed Conflict.

But Mr Justice McKinnon ordered the colonel’s acquittal after “no case to answer” submissions were made by his defence team.

Four of Col Mendonca’s six co-defendants were also cleared on the instructions of the judge following similar applications. Two of the seven men remain on trial at Bulford Camp in Wiltshire.