 Brutal
treatment of POWs by British troops witnessed by
Danish soldiers
On
May 13, 2004 the Danish Ministry of Defence
released a press
statement
on this, but it has been ignored by the British and
American media. Our thanks to reader
Jan
Dahl
for this submission and translation.
[Danish] Ministry of
Defence
Press statement May 13th, 2004 THE Ministry of Defence has today been informed
that a Danish military legal advisor in Iraq has
been briefed about an episode involving two Danish
military-assistant nurses, who were undergoing
"on-the-job-training" at a British field hospital
in Basra during September 2003. The latter observed
and reported the following: Two Iraqis had been
brought to the field hospital, after being exposed
to a heavy-handed, unauthorized field interrogation
by a British unit. According to the report, one of
the Iraqis subsequently died from his injuries.  Defence
Minister Søren Gade
[right] states:
"I have, immediately after receiving
briefing about this case, asked the Defence
Command to give a full account, especially
including why I had not been informed of this
immediately. The Defence Command has now
informed me that the Danish military judicial
advisor today has explained that at the time of
the incident she immediately made inquiries of
the British authorities and was told that the
incident had already been investigated. Since
there was no further involvement of Danish
soldiers, the episode was not reported home
[to Defence Command]."Due to the topical interest and media
attention I have requested Defence Command to
obtain as much information on the case as
possible. Defence Command reports that the British
Military authorities have agreed to make all
necessary information available, in order to
provide complete details on the case. The report demonstrates the wariness and
responsible action of the Danish soldiers,
although the event roughly cannot be seen as
being within Danish responsibility." Contact person in the Danish
Ministry of Defense is public relations office
Jacob Winther, telephone (+45) 25 27 45
23.
[Original
Danish:]
Forsvarsministeriet
Pressemeddelelse 13. maj 2004 Forsvarsministeriet har i dag fået oplyst,
at en dansk militærjuridisk rådgiver i
Irak har været orienteret om en episode, som
to danske, militære sygehjælpere under
"on-the-job-training" på et britisk
felthospital i Basra i september 2003 har
observeret. To irakere skulle angiveligt være
blevet bragt til felthospitalet efter at have
været udsat for en hårdhændet
behandling under en uautoriseret
feltafhøring ved en britisk enhed. Efter det
oplyste skulle den ene iraker efterfølgende
være død af sine skader. Forsvarsminister
Søren Gade udtaler: "Jeg har straks efter, at jeg i eftermiddag blev
orienteret om denne sag, bedt Forsvarskommandoen om
en redegørelse, herunder hvorfor dette ikke
blev rapporteret straks. Forsvarskommandoen har nu
informeret mig om, at den danske
militærjuridiske rådgiver i dag har
oplyst, at hun dengang straks henvendte sig til de
britiske myndigheder og fik at vide, at
hændelsen allerede blev efterforsket. Da der
endvidere ikke var danske soldater involveret, blev
episoden ikke rapporteret hjem. På grund af emnets aktualitet og
mediebevågenhed har jeg anmodet
Forsvarskommandoen om at tilvejebringe flest mulige
oplysninger i sagen. Forsvarskommandoen oplyser, at
de britiske militære myndigheder har
indvilliget i at stille alle nødvendige
oplysninger til rådighed for at få
sagen fuldstændig belyst. Episoden viser, at
de danske soldater er årvågne og har
optrådt ansvarligt, selvom hændelsen
egentlig ikke kan anses for et dansk
anliggende." Kontaktperson i
Forsvarsministeriet er pressechef Jacob
Winther, telefon 25 27 45 23. 
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