LONDON, March 20, (Agencies): An Iraqi man told a public inquiry in London on Wednesday that he was beaten, threatened with a metal tent pole and subjected to sleep deprivation by occupying British troops.
Madhi Jasim Abdullah Al-Behadili, 26, is the first of nine Iraqi former detainees who will give evidence at the Al-Sweady inquiry into alleged crimes by British troops after the battle of Danny Boy on May 14, 2004.
“I felt they were out to kill us,” Al-Behadili told the inquiry on the 10th anniversary of the US-led invasion of his country, describing a moment when he was questioned and beaten while blindfolded shortly after arriving at Camp Abu Naji, a British base.

“From the way they treated us and from the violence, I wouldn’t think otherwise. I would never think they would have any mercy on us,” he said, speaking through an interpreter.

A large number of Iraqis from the area where the battle took place, near the southern town of Majar al-Kabir, say a group of men captured alive were murdered or tortured in detention.

The British military deny the allegations, which they say were part of a propaganda campaign against Iraq’s occupation.

There is no agreement on the number or identities of the alleged victims. The inquiry says it aims to establish the circumstances of 28 deaths.

The issues of how and why Britain got involved in the Iraq invasion and how the war was conducted are still matters of lively public debate in Britain and Al-Sweady is one of three major public inquiries.
Al-Behadili said he had found himself in the area where the battle took place, near the Danny Boy checkpoint, because he was working on a farm there.

He denied having any weapons with him. Shown photographs of weapons including rocket propelled grenade launchers and Kalashnikov rifles, which the military say were found where he was captured, he denied any knowledge of them.

He also said he was alone when he was arrested, but the inquiry was shown pictures of him lying on the ground with his face down and his hands tied behind his back, alongside three other Iraqis. The military say he was found in a ditch with another Iraqi while another two people were in a nearby ditch.

The Al-Sweady inquiry, ordered by the government in 2009, began public hearings this month after three years of preliminary detective work. It has already cost the British taxpayer £16 million ($24.19 million).
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LONDON: Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai returned to school on Tuesday for the first time since she was shot in the head by the Talebanin October for campaigning for girls’ education.
The 15-year-old said she had “achieved her dream” and was looking forward to meeting new friends at the independent Edgbaston High School for Girls in Birmingham, central England, where she is now living.

Malala was flown to Britain after the attack for surgery for her head injuries and underwent several operations as recently as last month.

“I am excited that today I have achieved my dream of going back to school,” she said in a statement. “I want all girls in the world to have this basic opportunity.”

She added: “I miss my classmates from Pakistan very much but I am looking forward to meeting my teachers and making new friends here in Birmingham.”

Pictures showed her going to school carrying a pink backpack and wearing a black headscarf over a green sweater.

She will be studying a full curriculum in preparation for selecting subjects for GCSEs, the exams that English schoolchildren sit when they are aged between 14 and 16.

Malala was shot at point-blank range by a Talebangunman as her school bus travelled through northwest Pakistan’s Swat Valley on October 9, in an attack that drew worldwide condemnation.
She has since become a global symbol of the campaign for girls’ right to an education and has been nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

UN education envoy and former British prime minister Gordon Brown, who has backed Malala’s cause, said it was a “great day.”