UR TV CAST

* Two Danish Army medics have reported witnessing Iraqi prisoners brought to a military clinic after being beaten by British troops.Denmark’s defence minister Soeren Gade said the unnamed medics alleged that one of the Iraqis died as a result of injuries sustained in the incident in September last year.The Ministry of Defence in London said the report appeared to refer to an incident which has already been subject to an investigation by the RMP. Mr Ancram accused Mr Ingram of “the most extraordinary bit of semantics I have heard for a long time”.The Government has been forced on to the defensive over when it first learned of allegations that British troops had beaten and humiliated Iraqis. Both were among eight people arrested by British troops in September 2003.In clashes with Mr Ingram, Keith Simpson, the Shadow Defence minister, said “contradictory statements” by ministers boosted those keen to undermine troops’ morale. The central charge is that I received reports about abuse in detention and did nothing about it.

That simply does not stack up.”Last night, Amnesty said its letter had raised “serious concern” at reported torture by Royal Military Police at a camp in Basra, including the death of Baha Mousa and the serious injuries sustained by Kefah Taha. However, it emerged shortly afterwards that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had conveyed its concerns to the Government in February and that Amnesty International had received a letter from Mr Ingram on the same subject in November.Mr Ingram faced fury in the Commons as he explained the apparent contradiction. He said his remarks last week had been construed to be a “denial I had seen any communication whatsoever about alleged wrongdoings by British troops” He said: “‘Report’ had a specific meaning to me. It is something that is properly researched, properly constructed and properly presented. The interim ICRC report of 10 February satisfied these criteria and when I said I had not received it, that was a correct and honest answer.” He added: “That does not mean to say I was unaware of the issues and the actions being taken.”Mr Ingram said the Red Cross report had raised three issues, all of which the Government was already acting upon.It had been reported that Amnesty International had submitted a ‘dossier’ of alleged abuses to him last year, he said “I received only one document from Amnesty last October It is hardly a dossier It is a letter just over a page, dealing with one incident.

He told MPs last week he had received “no such reports” from external organisations about the handling of prisoners or war. The Independent revealed on Wednesday that the Ministry of Defence would announce this week that its investigation had concluded that the images were a hoax. Yesterday, the Armed Forces minister, Adam Ingram, told the Commons the photos had been taken in the back of a lorry at the car park of a Territorial Army barracks near Manchester. Mr Morgan, said his colleagues, had no intention of resigning. The Mirror refused to comment on whether or not the photographs were subjected to scrutiny by outside experts before publication.

But last night he remained defiant, maintaining that ministers had “still not produced incontrovertible evidence” that the pictures were fakes. Under his leadership, the average weekly reach for the first 11 weeks of 2004 was 8.5 per cent or 2.5 million, an increase of 55 per cent compared with the same period in 2003. Share was 0.44 per cent, an increase of 69 per cent on the same period last year, ahead of competitors such as UK Horizons and the History channel, and on a par with Discovery.If he does get the job, he is expected to continue in Ms Root’s footsteps by moving away from makeover shows. Photographs published in the Daily Mirror purporting to show the abuse of an Iraqi prisoner by British soldiers were “categorically not taken in Iraq”, the Government said yesterday.
The findings by the Royal Military Police put pressure on the Mirror’s editor, Piers Morgan, with questions raised about his future with the newspaper. In the BBC’s recent statement of policy, BBC2 focused on its current affairs output including the futuristic docudrama If, as well as promising to extend Newsnight..