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
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian