Tri-Service
MoD Apologises For Boy's Drowning
The Ministry of Defence has apologised for the death of an Iraqi boy who drowned after being 'forced' into a canal by British soldiers.
In May 2003 15-year-old Ahmad Jabbar Kareem Ali had been detained by troops in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on suspicion of looting. The teenager had been taken, along with three other suspected looters, to a nearby waterway to be given a 'soaking' as punishment.
Responding to the findings of an independent inquiry by former High Court judge Sir George Newman, an MoD spokesman said: "This was a grave incident for which we are extremely sorry."
"We are committed to investigating allegations of wrongdoing by UK forces and will use Sir George's findings to learn lessons to help ensure nothing like this happens again."
Ahmad was arrested near the Basra General Hospital on May 8 2003 as British troops battled to bring law and order to the Iraqi city.
On being detained he was first forced to roll in a pool of stagnant water before being loaded into a Warrior armoured vehicle and driven to the Shatt-Al Basra waterway.
According to evidence given later by one of his fellow detainees they were ordered into the water at gunpoint and stones were thrown forcing them into deeper water, claims which the report has been unable to verify.
However the report has concluded that the British soldiers actions were a "clumsy, ill-directed and bullying piece of conduct, engaged in without consideration of the risk of harm to which it could give rise".
Going on to criticise what it describes as their "manifest failure" to save the boy it added: "His death ensued because he was forced by the soldiers to enter the canal, where, in the presence of the soldiers, he was seen to be in difficulty, and to go under the water.
"Notwithstanding the unlawful treament involved in getting him into the water, his death could have been avoided because he could and should have been rescued after it became clear that he was floundering."
The four British Army soldiers involved, who were granted anonymity in the report, were acquitted of manslaughter at a court martial in 2006.
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