Two Iraq abuse soldiers will appeal

This Is London ^ | 3/24/05

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Two soldiers who were jailed and thrown out the Army for abusing Iraqi prisoners are launching an appeal against their convictions.

Corporal Daniel Kenyon and Lance Corporal Mark Cooley, both from Newcastle upon Tyne, were convicted at a court martial in Germany in February.

Stuart Jackson, who represents both defendants, said: "I can confirm that an appeal has been lodged against sentencing and conviction." He said further details about the appeal would be released next week.

The mistreatment of the civilian detainees took place at an aid facility known as Camp Bread Basket, near Basra, in May 2003.

Cooley, 25, was jailed for two years after being found guilty of two charges - disgraceful conduct of a cruel kind and prejudicing good order and military discipline. Kenyon, 33, a married father of three, was imprisoned for 18 months after he was convicted of three charges including failing to report the abuse and aiding and abetting another soldier, Darren Larkin, in the assault of a prisoner.

The case was brought to trial after the emergence of "trophy" photographs of abuse, including images of sexual humiliation. The photographs were taken by another soldier, Gary Bartlam, 20, who then took them to be developed at a shop in his home town Tamworth, Staffordshire where an assistant called in police. In one photograph a grinning Cooley was shown driving a forklift truck with a bound Iraqi prisoner suspended from the prongs.

Another showed Cooley, a father of one, kneeling and pretending to punch a prostrate prisoner. Kenyon appeared in the background of one picture which showed another Iraqi being assaulted. The picture caught Larkin from Oldham, Greater Manchester, dressed in his boxer shorts and flip-flops, standing on top of a prone detainee who was tied in a cargo net.

Larkin, 30, was jailed for 140 days, after pleading guilty to the assault. Kenyon was cleared of a further two charges of aiding and abetting unknown persons to force the detainees to simulate a sex act.

The fate of the soldiers from the 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers was decided by Judge Advocate Michael Hunter and a panel of seven senior officers at the court martial in Osnabruck, Germany.

In their defence, the soldiers claimed that the abuse stemmed from an unlawful mission which took place at the aid camp to capture and deter looters. Speaking after the trial Mr Jackson said his clients felt they had been made scapegoats for the events which took place at the camp.