Britain… a full record of criminality and terrorism, Part III

The Prisoners of war in London Cage: arrest, interrogation, and torture. London’s cage used to accommodate no more than 60 prisoners and detainees, and it consists of 5 rooms for questioning. The National Archives’ documents included a statement about the methods of torture and abuse that were followed in that cage. One of these methods says that the guards have to enter every 15 minutes to the cells to kick the prisoners so no to let them sleep.
Among these documents, a detailed letter of complaint sent by a former captain in the German army called (Fritz Nyoshlaan) talks about how they dealt with him since he came to the prison cage on October 1946. In this letter, he mentions that “Because he did not accept to admit as his captors asked him to do so”, they took his clothes off , kept only one worn and thin garment out of his clothes, did not allow him to sleep for four days and nights, and deprived him of eating any food. As stated in this letter, they initially were forcing him to do hard physical activities, and this continued until he fell to the ground unconscious. Then, they used to force him to jog in a small tight circle for four continuous hours, and even ordinary soldiers who have no military rank used to slap and kick him consecutively.

They used to throw him in cold water, push him strongly from the top of the stairs, and beat him with sticks and whips. As mentioned in the letter also, they were forcing him to stand for a long time near a large gas fireplace, and then take him to one of the bathroom in a cell by force and throw water and ice on him from each side. Nyoshlaan also wrote in his letter: the prison officers and guards were beating the prisoners to the extent that made them beg them to kill them so that to stop their suffering by ending their lives.

Once Nyoshlaan’s letter was spread, as well as the information and secrets that it contains, he has been hanged on accusations of killing 124 English soldiers!!

“I ask you in the coming weeks and months to continue firing toxic gases on the Germans, and if you agreed to do so, I hope that you do this in the best possible way”. Churchill

Britain’s Crimes in Northern Ireland

There are many considered evidence documenting the existence of numerous murders committed by the British soldiers against the civilians and non-military citizens in Northern Ireland. In the period between 1970 and 2000, the soldiers of the British Army killed more than 300 Irish citizens, including men, women and children. All these victims were from private individuals and non-militants; anyone of them was posing no kind of threat to one of the British soldiers. Among the dead people were each of: Catholics clerics, older women, children, teenage girls, and a child that was not more than 14-years-old, her name was (Ant Mk Goegan); she was killed after shooting her head from behind from a very near distance.

Worse than that, in recent times, a number of governmental documents that belong to the British Kingdom were leaked, which revealed that in the year 1972 an amnesty for all the British soldiers who were accused of killing non-military citizens in Northern Ireland was released.

Among the victims also was (Kathleen Thompson); she was shot to death by an English soldier while she was standing in the courtyard of her house, on 6 November 1971. No one has been convicted and/or punished in this heinous crime, but her husband insisted on trying her murderer, continuing his struggle for this issue in the English courts for 9 years. However, the English government did not provide in this context but only agreeing to provide financial support worth 84, 07 £ compensation to him, but the husband has torn it immediately in the courtroom.

Also, among the victims was: the child (Stefan Mack Kanomi), eleven-years-old, who was killed after being shot from the back of his head at the hands of the officer (Nigel Robert). This crime also was not condemned, and the murderer was never charged or punished.

Bobby Sands: a slain MP

Robert Gerard “Bobby” Sands is also one of the victims of this English terrorism. He is a member of the volunteers in the Irish constitutional army, and a member of the British Parliament. He died in the prison (HM Prison Maze) after a hunger strike that lasted long time.

Robert Gerard “Bobby” Sands is the symbol of chasing freedom, and of the struggle of the Irish people against the British colonialism.

This man was the leader of a hunger strike in 1981, and after his death, a new wave of revolution for freedom started and was led by young people in the pursuit of the Irish independence from Britain.

Sands joined the Irish constitutional army (Provisional IRA) in 1972, after he was separated from the Irish Republican Army, because of tactical and ideological differences. This army was formed in 1969, and the main objective of its formation was: gaining Northern Ireland’s independence from England.

On October 1972, Sands was arrested on charges of possessing four light weapons that were found in his home and place of residence. On April 1973, he was sentenced to four years, to be released later on April 1976. After his release from prison, he continued his activities and struggle in the independence movement of Northern Ireland. He has been tried many times because of it, until he was sentenced in 1977 to 14 years imprisonment, after he was accused of possessing and carrying a heavy weapon.

He began a hunger strike in Ireland in the year 1981 (which is the second hunger strike carried out by Irish prisoners of conscience). Sands in prison refrained from eating on March 1, 1981. Sands had agreed with the rest of the prisoners to carry out a hunger strike separately, so that to make the bad conditions of the imprisoned along successive months capable of inciting and mobilizing the public opinion.

On 5 May 1981, and after 66 days of hunger, Sands died in (Long Kesh) hospital, and he was not exceeding 27-years-old. According to the preliminary report issued by the forensics, the cause of Sands and his fellow’s death was hunger strikers that “they imposed on their selves”!! However, the objections of the families of the strikers and their families paid the forensic to change this phrase and to replace it with the word “hunger” only.

Hence, Sands is considered the first of a total of ten people dying in order to retrieve the rights of the political prisoners.

“We’re not a young nation that does not have a history or a significant cultural legacy, and we were able to get a grip on much of the wealth and global trade. Every field or area we wanted to go into it, we made it belong to us. Therefore, the extensive colonies that we have been able to take by violence and force, which were not been taken by anyone else before, seem to be by others, before being by us, illogical and unjustified”. Churchill

Today, does anyone think that the Britons were burning villages and rural areas, sexually harassing women and children, executing prisoners without evidence or trial, killing locals by impoverishing and crushing them, and making indigenous people infected with smallpox and addicted to drugs and alcohol?! Yet, facts prove that all this was only a part of the British crimes and transgressions. The Britons also ruled Sri Lanka in the period between the years 1815 and 1948. Once they entered Sri Lanka, they set fire to villages and farms, executed animals and beasts, vandalized crops and plants, killed people mercilessly and cruelly, raided their agricultural lands, and corrupted their products and crops. This had many negative effects on the safety of the environment and nature protection.

It is noteworthy that none of the countries that were under colonialism did open their arms to receive the Britons or other Western countries on their territories, but their territories were raped and occupied by force, violence and by brutal ways and means.

The Iraqi citizens are dying under the torture of the British soldiers

Numerous reports and images that show the torture of the Iraqi citizens in the prisons of the occupation forces in that country were published, and they revealed that many of these detainees have died due to the brutal torture they faced in those prisons and jails.

A report was published by (Baha Mousa) included dramatic tragic photos, mentioned that the English security forces have long been using methods of torture and sexual abuse against detainees, and (Mousa) himself was one of them, and he unfortunately died when he was being arrested and stopped by the British troops.

In this regard, according to his report published by the (Anti-War) Center for Study: Most of the British soldiers who have been proved to be insulting prisoners and detainees, or killing innocent citizens and civilians, will be tried at the end.

They were only two days during which Baha Mousa was arrest by the British men, and 93 deep wounds were found in his body, until he died because of those wounds.

This comes at a time when Baha Mousa was absolutely not charged; he was just a normal receptionist at a hotel in Iraq, and essentially he was never tried and/or accused.

The most impressing thing is that the Britons, according to a published report by the Anti-War, were not doing those brutal torture acts secretly and in a hidden way, but they were committing them publicly and in front of the jailers and the rest of the prisoners and detainees. (Rabindr Singh), defense lawyer for the family of Baha Mousa (26 years), who was being killed during the long period of his questioning at the hands of the English forces, had said: that the English forces in Iraq continued the use of torture and terrible and brutal interrogation against the citizens of the Iraqi people, noting that the British government itself had announced banning and preventing the use of these tools since 1972.

But despite all this, and due to the escalating protests by the family of this dead prisoner and by others affected by the acts of brutal and inhumane torture exerted by the British officers and soldiers, one of those who participated in this incident was sentenced to twelve months imprisonment; he is the officer (Donald Payne), who was caught red-handed in a video recordings while violating Baha Mousa. It is noteworthy that the Anti-War report had stressed and confirmed the need for prosecuting and trying who were proven to be guilty among the British officers in acts of abuse and violation against the Iraqi prisoners.

Recently, the English police continued the charges against the British intelligence service, known as (MI6). Also, many sources and news agencies talk about the presence of hundreds of complaints and accusations of torture and abuse practiced against Iraqi civilians by the British troops, what makes the Ministry of Defense in the UK involved as a whole in this case.

In this context, the Guardian newspaper wrote: The ongoing investigations in England about acts of torture and abuse of prisoners caused fright and panic in the British authorities, to the extent that the Ministry of the British State issued a statement warning of the consequences and repercussions of the ongoing investigations about harming prisoners and detainees and assaulting them.

Moreover, the fact-finding committee in the case of Baha Mousa, a reception employee in a hotel in Basra-Iraq, has announced that according to a report by the British Guardian newspaper, the British Ministry of Defense is directly responsible for murdering this young man who did not exceed 26-years-old.

Baha Mousa (26 years) was killed at the hands of the British soldiers after spending 48 hours under torture.

The report concluded that Baha Mousa died in the custody of the first division of the British regiment known as the (Queen Lancashire) in 2003, where several soldiers of this regiment tortured him and took his confession, until they killed him in a very tragic way. This regiment has been at that time under the leadership of Colonel (George Mandonca), who was, according to the investigating judge in the case, involved in acts of torture and abuse, which affected Mousa. He is also known for carrying out such acts in the army and dealing with prisoners and detainees badly.

According to the British Daily Mail newspaper, the judge (Cage) told its reporters that Col. (Greg Rodgers), commander of the regiment in question, was able to intervene to prevent these violations committed by his soldiers from taking place, and if he did it, (Baha Mousa) would have been still alive until now.

Following this declaration by the fact-finding committee, in a representative meaningful step to break what has become known as the (plot of silence) by the British government, the British Defense Secretary (William Fox) described what (Mousa) has suffered along with the other detainees as “shocking and shameful”.

For his part, following these investigations as well, Gen. Peter Wall, commander of the British Army, said: This act stained the reputation of the British army, and is considered a flagrant violation of the military law.

Baha Mousa, 26 years old, had been arrested in Basra on September 2003, and after two days of continuous torture, beating, humiliation and insult at the hands of the English forces, he died after he suffered from more than 93 wounds as a result of severe beatings.

The file of the case of murdering Baha Mousa was opened in a military English court in 2007, in the presence of 6 accused members of the British army. However, the session headed by Judge (Cage) discharged five of them, and sentenced the sixth one, a low rank soldier named (Donald Payne), to just one year imprisonment, on charges of directly causing the death of (Mousa), noting that this soldier was known for torturing the Iraqi citizens, and abusing and insulting them. As for Colonel (George Mandonca), and other participants in those despicable acts, they have been exonerated fully.

In recent years, the wave of complaints and protests against the English government escalated by the families of the Iraqi victims who died under torture, but, until now, any of the British soldiers and officers accused of committing such acts have neither go through any serious prosecution, nor has been punished as deserved.

At the same time, the British government sought, through the payment of compensations to some of these families, to prevent the follow-up of these files and issues, whether in the British courts, or in other courts and international judicial references.

In addition, on September 2003, Former Corporal (Donald Payne) admitted that he was a member of the group led by Lieutenant (Craig Rodgers), and according to (Payne), all the members of this group were abusing and maltreating the Iraqi prisoners, and that he saw them, including ( Rodgers) “kicking and punching” the prisoners. He added that Lt. (Rodgers) once poured water on an Iraqi child pretending that it is gasoline and not water, and then he lighted a match to terrify him.

The video recordings that documented these crimes show that (Donald) was yelling and cursing one Iraqi prisoner and forced him to stand in stressful positions.

After all this was spread to the public, the Ministry of Defense approved to pay 2.83 million dollars to compensate to the family of Baha Mousa and the families of nine other people that have been subjected to abuse by the British troops.

About 1,000 other British soldiers have been accused of committing numerous war crimes during the war of aggression waged by the United States on Iraq to occupy it in 2003; the reason for many of these charges is torturing and ill-treating the prisoners, taking into account that the results of the investigations show that this abuse of prisoners acts as a systematic method adopted by the British forces. However, the Britons were always kept away from being charged of war crimes with no prosecution or punishment.

Thus, the criminality of the British army keeps going on and on…