London, UK, February 12 – Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain, the Islamic political party, strongly condemns the abuse by British soldiers of Iraqis as revealed in today's News of the World newspaper. The latest revelations which follow in the light of revelations of continued prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo are not surprising given that in occupying Iraq, western governments completely discarded all international norms and principles that they had previously been preaching to the entire world.

It is ironic that only last week, the UK Defence Secretary, John Reid, said that British troops were facing an enemy not hindered "by any legitimacy, any morality, any international convention". He went on to tell BBC Radio 4, "Let us be very slow to condemn our troops, our forces". It is therefore not surprising that in the face of incontrovertible evidence of abuse, all Prime Minister Tony Blair could do was confirm that there would be an "investigation", while praising British troops for doing a "great job". This was entirely predictable given that investigations [e.g. Butler, Hutton] were used to cover up the web of lies and deceit related to the WMD justification for war in Iraq.

Dr Imran Waheed, a media representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain, said, "Many will rightly think that this video footage only represents the tip of the iceberg of abuse of Iraqis. For the last two weeks, British government officials have been claiming that their position on the Danish cartoons is exemplary and an illustration of their sensitivity towards Islam and Muslims. However, the continued occupation of Iraq and abuse of ordinary Iraqis at the hands of western armies is much more indicative of western foreign policy towards Muslims. The description of Islam as an 'evil ideology', the attacks on Shariah and the Caliphate by prominent western politicians and the support of tyrant rulers in the Muslim world also puts these latest revelations in context."

"Given these events, it is no surprise that the UK government is so intent, despite advice to the contrary, on creating a vague offence of 'glorification' that intends to silence Muslim opposition to the brutal and illegal occupation of Iraq".

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