2 British soldiers cleared of Iraq abuse

A military court cleared two soldiers Tuesday over charges connected to the death of an Iraqi hotel worker following a six-month hearing, Britain's first prosecution for war crimes in Iraq.

Baha Mousa was among nine Iraqi detainees taken into custody as alleged insurgents. Prosecutors charged they were held in stress positions and deprived of sleep for about two days in extreme heat at a British army barracks near the southern Iraqi city of Basra in September 2003.

Mousa, a 26-year-old hotel receptionist, died after he was restrained by soldiers following an attempt to escape custody. A pathologist told the court Mousa had died from asphyxia, caused because soldiers had ordered him to hold a stress position.

Maj. Michael Peebles, 35, and Warrant Officer Mark Davies, 37, both of the Intelligence Corps, were among seven men who faced trial at Bulford Camp in southwest England on charges related to the incidents.

Both were cleared Tuesday of a charge of negligence and failing to ensure the Iraqis were not ill-treated by men under their command.

Last month, four others, including Col. Jorge Mendonca, 43, the regiment's former commander, were cleared on the judge's orders because of a lack of evidence against them.

The seventh soldier, Cpl. Donald Payne, 35, pleaded guilty to the charge of inhumanely treating the Iraqi civilians, making him the first British soldier to plead guilty to a war crime under international law.

Iraqis allegedly beaten by the soldiers were brought to the court to testify during the hearing, which opened in September.

"I put flowers in my children's hands to welcome the British soldiers when they came to free us from Saddam," Ahmad Taha Musa Al-Matairi, one of the detainees, told the court through an interpreter. "I could not believe that these were criminals from Britain."

British defense ministry officials defended their right to bring the prosecution, even though six of the seven soldiers were cleared.

"We need to maintain both operational effectiveness and the public's trust and confidence," the ministry said in a statement.