Damaging allegations that British troops beat Iraqi prisoners "for fun" were aired on television on Friday, just hours after a newspaper editor was removed for publishing fake photographs of similar abuse.
A soldier told a prime-time current affairs show that he repeatedly saw prisoners hooded, restrained physically and beaten for long periods.
"They were beaten for fun," the man, identified only as "Soldier C" and shown only in shadow, told ITV's Tonight with Trevor McDonald program.
"I saw prisoners being punched, slapped, kicked, pushed around. Sand bagged, zip-tied," he said,
"I saw them in those sand bags for hours and hours on end. And then water would be poured over them. I know that some of them had trouble breathing."
Some prisoners were often "beyond" screaming or crying out, he added.
The soldier was identified as being a member of the Territorial Army part-time reserve force, who while serving in Iraq was attached to the Queen's Lancashire Regiment.
The same regiment was identified as being behind alleged abuses shown in pictures published in the tabloid Daily Mirror on May 1, photos backed up by testimony from troops including Soldier C.
The pictures, which showed what were identified as British troops apparently beating and urinating on a detainee, were rejected as fake by the British Ministry of Defence on Thursday.
On Friday evening, the Trinity Mirror group, which publishes the newspaper, said editor Piers Morgan was "stepping down" with immediate effect, apologizing to the regiment and saying it had been "the subject of a calculated and malicious hoax."
A former commanding officer of the regiment, Colonel David Black, later voiced "quiet satisfaction" at the news.
However, Soldier C said that abuse, while not systematic, had been taking place frequently.
"I knew that it was going on for long periods of time, and seeing the state of the guys that were in captivity, you knew that it was getting to a dangerous level," he said, blaming a lack of supervision by senior officers and top military command.
"I'm sure at the top level, you know, they don't condone all these sorts of acts. I believe that.
"But when it gets down to the lower levels, it's hard to control," he said.
Also See Story:
Hoax photos claim scalp of `Mirror' editor
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors