By IRNA
London : The UK government has so far paid more than Pnds 3.3 million (Dlrs 6.6 m) in compensation to Iraqi nationals abused by British troops since the 2003 invasion, over half in the last 12 months, Defense Secretary Des Browne has revealed.
Britain’s Ministry of Defence paid out Pnds 2 m in compensation for Iraqi nationals injured or killed during the year ending March 2008, up from only Pnds 158,000 in the previous 12 months, Browne said in a parliamentary reply published Wednesday.
Previously the payments had declined from Pnds 753,000 in the first year of the war, to Pnds 331,000 in 2004/05 and just Pnds 98,000 in 2005/06.
The sudden increase in compensation is expected to grow further after the UK government recently admitted “substantive breaches” of the European Convention on Human Rights over the death and torture of Iraqi civilians in the custody of British soldiers.
The admissions, made in court last Friday, included breaches of Article Two on the right of life and Article Three on the prohibition of torture over the 2003 killing of Basra hotel worker Baha Mousa while being detained by UK troops.
Substantive breaches of the prohibition of torture were admitted in relation to eight other Iraqi detainees held in custody at the same time as Mousa, who reportedly had 93 identifiable injuries on his body and suffered asphyxiation.
The new admissions, which were accompanied with an apology after long legal battles, are already expected to cost the British government more millions of pounds in compensation