Blair denies 'detailed knowledge' of prisoner abuse

Tony Blair has denied that he knew about the "specific allegations" of the abuse of Iraqi detainees by British soldiers prior to their publication in the media.

Mr Blair said that all allegations were either fully investigated or were being investigated.

At the launch of Labour's European Parliamentary election campaign, Mr Blair said that there was "absolutely no excuse" for the mistreatment of prisoners. He said that it was "unacceptable" to hood or subject detainees to sensory deprivation.

Yesterday, both the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Amnesty International claimed that concerns over prisoner mistreatment in Iraq had been made known to the Government more than a year ago.

In this morning's press briefing the Prime Minister's Official Spokesperson (PMOS) said: "Questions about who knew what, when would be dealt with by the Defence Secretary in his Statement to the House this afternoon."

He pointed out that ICRC reports had always been confidential - not at the request of the UK Government - but as it was the way the ICRC worked worldwide.

However, he confirmed that the report in February "had not been UK specific" and had been about "the issue of prisoner detentions in Iraq in general".

The PMOS reminded journalists that in his statement to the House Adam Ingram had said that 33 cases relating to allegations of mistreatment by British troops had been investigated. "Of those," he said, "21 had been completed, 15 had been found to have no case to answer and six were being considered for further legal processes. The remaining 12 were still being investigated".

He added that an ICRC report into the new UK detention centre at Shaiba in April had contained few "significant criticisms" but declined to provide further information because the ICRC worked under "strict rules of confidentiality and did not want their reports published".

Pressed repeatedly as to when the Prime Minister had become aware of the Red Cross's February report, the PMOS said that as the Prime Minister had told journalists in his press conference today, he had not known about it.

He said that these issues had been dealt with at "an operational level," as was the case with all ICRC reports.

He said that the details of who knew what and when would be dealt with by Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon in his statement to the House of Commons on Monday afternoon.

(SP)