A British soldier pleaded guilty to a war crime for inhumanely treating Iraqi civilians, in the first prosecution of its kind in the United Kingdom, the BBC reported.
Cpl Donald Payne, 35, of the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, pleaded guilty to the charge at the start of a court martial of seven British soldiers accused of beating and killing Baha Musa, an Iraqi hotel receptionist, while he was held by UK troops in Basra in September 2003.
The seven servicemen are also court-martialed over their ill-treatment of other Iraqi prisoners.
The charge of inhumane treatment of civilians is being brought as a war crime under the International Criminal Court Act (ICCA) 2001.
Other charges against the soldiers are being brought under the British Army Act 1955.
Sgt Kelvin Stacey, 29, of the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, is accused of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Maj Michael Peebles, 35, and Warrant Officer Mark Davies, 37, both of the Intelligence Corps, face charges of negligently performing a duty.
And Col Jorge Mendonca, 42, formerly commander of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment - which is now renamed as the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment - is charged with negligently performing his duties.
All six soldiers deny the charges.
Cpl Payne also faces charges of manslaughter and preventing the course of justice, which he denies.
Correspondents say the court martial will trigger unprecedented scrutiny of Britain's military justice system.
At least 100,000 UK military personnel have served in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, according to the British Ministry of Defense. During that time, five prosecutions have been brought against UK troops accused of deliberately abusing Iraqi civilians.
Only one of these prosecutions led to the conviction of two British soldiers in February 2005. Two other martial trials, both involving the deaths of Iraqi teenagers, cleared the accused soldiers of all charges against them. Another murder prosecution relating to a separate incident was even abandoned before trial.
The fifth case is still being reviewed by British military officials.
Tuesday's court martial began days after Australia vowed to launch an investigation into video clips showing Australian soldiers mishandling weapons and fraternizing with Iraqis.
Among the 15 offensive video clips, shot by Australian soldiers between 2003 and 2005, was one showing an Australian soldier pointing a handgun at the head of a kneeling man, possibly another Australian soldier dressed in Arab robes. Another footage showed charred corpses; the victims of bombing attacks.
Photographs of occupation forces abusing Iraqis have triggered worldwide condemnation and led to the court-martialing of several soldiers.
The most appalling images were taken by U.S. soldiers in 2003 at the Abu Ghraib prison where prisoners were sexually and physically abused by their American guards.
Agencies
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