British soldier witnessed Iraqi detainee abuse but did not report

News

British soldier witnessed Iraqi detainee abuse but did not report

January 28, 2005 01:21:00 pm

[JURIST] A British soldier told a UK court martial Friday he failed to report the alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners. Sgt. Thomas Simon's testimony comes as part of the court martial of three British soldiers accused of abusing and assaulting Iraqi detainees [JURIST report; charge list from BBC News] at a camp outside Basra in May 2003. Simon testified that he had seen two naked male prisoners surrounded by a group of laughing troops, including one of the soldiers facing charges, but never told superior officers of the incident. BBC News has more.

Previously on JURIST's Paper Chase…

Congress set minimum federal sentences for drug offenders

On November 2, 1951, President Harry Truman signed the "Boggs Act" into law, setting minimum federal sentences for drug offenders.

Read Richard J. Bonnie and Charles Whitebread, The Forbidden Fruit and the Tree of Knowledge: An Inquiry Into the Legal History of American Marijuana Prohibition, 56 Virginia Law Review (1970).

Balfour Declaration issued

On November 2, 1917, British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour issued the United Kingdom's formal statement regarding Jewish people in Palestine. The Balfour Declaration was later endorsed by the World War I Allied Powers. It stated the British intention to support a national homeland for Jewish people and became a cornerstone of the Zionist movement.

Read the full Balfour Declaration as well as other documents regarding Israeli-Palestinian relations from the BBC.