COPENHAGEN, 22 January 2005 — A Danish intelligence officer and four military police sergeants will stand trial for abuse of Iraqi prisoners at a Danish camp in southern Iraq, the Danish army said yesterday. Reserve Capt. Annemette Hommel and the four soldiers could face up to one year in prison if found guilty of breaking military law during interrogations last year, the army said.

The abuse inquiry first made headlines in the Scandinavian nation last August and prompted Defense Minister Soren Gade to recall Danish military commanders from Iraq. Hommel, 37, was sent home in July, before her tour of duty was up, after colleagues complained about the way she interrogated prisoners. She has denied the abuse.

“I will be the first person to be sorry if the military has made mistakes, but now the court process must take it course. No one has been convicted yet,” Danish Commander in Chief Jesper Helso said in a statement.

The charges against the Danes follow the prosecution of US and British soldiers for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison and in southern Iraq.

Unlike in the Abu Ghraib case, no images of the Danish abuse have surfaced and many people still support the centre-right government’s backing of the US-led war.

Army investigators said Hommel and the other soldiers subjected Iraqi prisoners to ill-treatment including verbal humiliation, forcing them to maintain painful postures, and restricting access to food and toilets.

Army investigators said the former Danish battalion commander in Iraq, Lt. Col. Henrik Flach, was still under investigation for failing to pass on initial reports of the abuse.

Meanwhile, a lawyer for one of three British soldiers accused of mistreating Iraqi civilians blamed their commanding officer yesterday for the abuses by mounting an illegal operation and then bungling it.

The lawyer, Joseph Giret, said that Major Dan Taylor, a witness at the soldiers’ court-martial in Germany, contravened international law when he ordered troops to round up looters, in a mission dubbed Operation Ali Baba.

“This was Operation Mish-Mash or Mismanagement,” Giret told the officer, whose career has involved a long climb up the ranks. “You went against the express orders of your commander.” Giret was representing Cpl. Daniel Kenyon, 33, who along with Lance Cpls. Darren Larkin, 30, and Mark Cooley, 25, are being tried on a total of nine charges ranging from assault to forcing detainees to simulate sexual acts.