Iraqi murder claims a 'conspiracy'

16 April 2014 Last updated at 13:52 The inquiry is concerned with the events following a fierce firefight on 14 May 2004 Allegations that British troops murdered Iraqis in the aftermath of an infamous 2004 battle were the result of a "conspiracy" to pervert the course of justice, the UK government has said.

The Ministry of Defence told the Al-Sweady public inquiry claims that bodies were mutilated were also "dishonestly made" by witnesses.

Lawyers for the Iraqis withdrew the murder and mutilation claims in March.

The inquiry was set up in 2009 to examine claims of mistreatment.

It is due to report by the end of this year and to date has cost £22.7m. It has reviewed millions of documents and heard from more than 280 witnesses.

'Not honest mistakes'

In closing statements to the inquiry, lawyers for the MoD said the allegations had caused "immense anxiety and distress" to the soldiers concerned.

After giving evidence last year, Mizal Karim Al-Sweady held up a photograph of his son Hamid

"The untruthful allegations cannot be attributed to honest mistakes or misunderstandings," the MoD said.

"They are the product of a conspiracy between a number of the Iraqi core participants to pervert the course of justice."

The four-year inquiry has been examining the Battle of Danny Boy - named after a British checkpoint near the town of Majar al-Kabir in southern Iraq - during the Iraq war.

British troops were accused of unlawfully killing 20 or more Iraqis at the nearby Camp Abu Naj.

But Neil Garnham QC from Treasury Solicitors - which represented many of the British personnel involved in the inquiry - said that some Iraqi witnesses had resorted to "elaborate fabrication" to explain why they and others were on the battlefield in the first place.

He accused the witnesses of being motivated by the prospect of receiving compensation.

'Broken and helpless'

Last month Public Interest Lawyers, acting for the Iraqi families and surviving detainees, said there was "insufficient evidence to support a finding of unlawful killing".

The inquiry is also examining claims that British troops mistreated nine detainees arrested after the battle.

Lawyers for the Iraqis told the inquiry that these outstanding allegations were "grave indeed".

Patrick O'Connor QC described them as: "Gross violations of the Geneva Conventions, inhuman and degrading treatment of wounded, broken and helpless young men, who were utterly at the mercy of their military handlers and interrogators."

The MoD has admitted that one detainee was grabbed and shaken, and that another may have been slapped.

It also concedes that the detainees should have been given a proper meal when they were first captured.

The inquiry was established after the MoD failed to prove that it had carried out a proper examination of the events of 14 May 2004.

Inquiry chairman Sir Thanye Forbes is expected to produce his report by the end of the year

The MoD was condemned for a "lamentable" failure to disclose information, including complaints made by detainees to the Red Cross.

"None of this would have been necessary if they had acted responsibly and in the public interest years ago," Mr O'Connor added.

"The heavy cost of this inquiry is the heavy cost of their dereliction of legal, moral and professional duty."

The inquiry is named after one of the Iraqi men, 19-year-old Hamid al-Sweady, who was alleged to have been unlawfully killed while being held following the battle.

It has been hearing closing oral submissions from the inquiry's core participants.

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Iraqi deputy PM in clash with troops

11 April 2014 Last updated at 20:46 Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq is a Sunni in a Shia-led government Guards protecting the convoy of the Iraqi deputy prime minister have reportedly been involved in a fire fight with soldiers.

The shoot-out came as Saleh al-Mutlaq was travelling to the Abu Ghraib area west of Baghdad.

The details of the clash are unclear. Earlier reports suggested the attackers were militants posing as soldiers.

His office also told the BBC that, contrary to earlier reports, nobody was killed in the fighting.

The incident comes three weeks before Iraqis are due to head to the polls in parliamentary elections.

Mr Mutlaq is a Sunni in the Shia-led government of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.

Critic

He was travelling with other officials into Anbar - Iraq's largest Sunni province - to inspect flood damage after militants shut off a dam in nearby Fallujah, a statement from Mr Mutlaq's office said.

BBC Arabic was initially told the convoy was ambushed by a large group of gunmen - carrying automatic weapons - who tried to prevent it from leaving the area.

But later comments from his office said the gunmen were in fact Iraqi soldiers, and a source described the encounter as a "scuffle".

The reasons for the attack are not clear.

Mr Mutlaq has in the past been critical of the Iraqi government's policies in Anbar - where the government is fighting Sunni militants - and has called for reform of the army.

A wave of violence has swept Iraq recently, including this car bombing in Baghdad on Thursday The elections will go ahead despite the violence, but polls will not be held in part of Anbar province

Also on Friday, a roadside bomb struck a minibus outside the northern city of Mosul, killing one civilian and wounding six.

Iraq has been enduring the worst unrest since it pulled back from the brink of civil war in 2008.

The election at the end of April will be the first since the US pulled out combat troops in 2011.

More than 9,000 candidates will compete for 328 parliamentary seats, but there will be no voting in parts of Sunni-dominated Anbar province, where security forces still battle Islamist and tribal militants for control of the provincial capital Ramadi and nearly Fallujah.

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