LONDON, 22 February 2004 — Britain’s Defense Ministry could face lawsuits over the deaths of at least 18 Iraqi civilians allegedly killed by British soldiers, a leading London-based newspaper said yesterday.
The incidents, the Guardian daily said, were hitherto unreported in Britain and related to Iraqis who died when they were fired on by mistake or were innocent bystanders to operations allegedly conducted by British troops.
The Defense Ministry has offered and paid compensation to some of the families but has refused to accept liability for any of the deaths, the newspaper said.
One family was offered $1,000 for the death of Waleed Fayayi Muzban, who was killed when his vehicle was hit by a barrage of bullets allegedly fired by British troops, according to the same source.
Lawyers said the sum was derisory, and are preparing to sue the Defense Ministry in the civil courts in Britain to secure better compensation.
Meanwhile Russia, a leading opponent of the US-led invasion of Iraq, said yesterday that it did not support holding Iraqi elections until the end of the US military occupation and a handover to Iraqi sovereignty.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov said national polls could only take place if they were organized under the aegis of the United Nations, which would not agree to take a role in current conditions.
“There is no alternative to nationwide elections in Iraq and they will be held sooner or later,” Fedotov was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
“But such elections will require in-depth preparation by all sides and it is very hard to imagine conducting such preparations under conditions of occupation of Iraq,” he added.
The United Nations, whose Secretary-General Kofi Annan recommended on Thursday that elections be put off and a caretaker regime be selected for the short term, “is unlikely to agree to start its work in Iraq under occupation.”
“The participation of the UN can only happen when the occupation of Iraq is ended and sovereignty is returned to the Iraqis,” the Russian diplomat said.
US civil administrator for Iraq, Paul Bremer, said earlier yesterday that it would be will be impossible to organize elections in Iraq for another year to 15 months for technical reasons.
Shiites, who contest US plans to hand power over to an unelected authority in the summer, have demanded to know when national elections will finally be held.
US officials have long argued that widespread insecurity and a lack of electoral infrastructure prevented early elections in Iraq after the ouster of President Saddam Hussein last April.
