[JURIST] Legal arguments began in Colchester, England, Monday in the court-martrial trial of four British soldiers accused of killing an Iraqi prisoner in the southern Iraqi city of Basra in May 2003. The four soldiers are accused of forcing Ahmed Kareem, one of four Iraqi prisoners captured on suspicion of looting, into a canal where he drowned. The trial, presided over by a seven-member military panel, is expected to last six weeks.

This case is the second publicized trial of British soldiers charged in an Iraqi civilian death. In November 2005, charges against seven solders for the murder [JURIST report] of an Iraqi civilian in southern Iraq were dropped [JURIST report] after it was determined that the main Iraqi witnesses lacked credibility. Reuters has more.