Did Tony Blair influence trial of UK soldiers accused of killing Iraqi man?

The United Kingdom’s role in the Iraq war has come under the spotlight once again, as newly released UK government files appear to suggest that former Prime Minister Tony Blair pressured officials to ensure British soldiers accused of mistreating Iraqi civilians during the war would not be tried in civil courts.

Documents released on Tuesday to the National Archives in Kew, west London, reveal that in 2005, Blair said it was “essential” that courts like the International Criminal Court (ICC) did not investigate UK actions in Iraq.

The decision to join the war in Iraq, launched by the United States with the UK in full support, in March 2003, has become one of the UK’s most widely investigated and criticised foreign policy decisions. The Iraq war continued until December 2011. During that time, more than 200,000 Iraqi civilians, 179 British soldiers and more than 4,000 US soldiers were killed.

In 2020, the ICC ended its own inquiries into British war crimes in Iraq.

Here’s what we know about the role Blair played in keeping UK war crimes out of the public eye.

On December 30, the UK Cabinet Office released more than 600 documents to the National Archives at Kew. According to the UK’s Public Records Act 1958, the government is required to release records of historical value to the National Archives after 20 years.

According to the National Archives website, most of the newly added documents relate to the policies implemented by the Blair government between 2004 and 2005, from domestic decisions to ensure the UK would not break up by delegating power to Wales and Scotland, to foreign policy decisions on Iraq and other countries.

According to UK media reports, the declassified files record that Blair told Antony Phillipson, his private secretary for foreign affairs at the time, that it was “essential” that civil courts did not prosecute British soldiers accused of abusing Iraqi civilians in their custody during the war in Iraq.

“We have, in effect, to be in a position where the ICC is not involved and neither is CPS (UK Crown Prosecution Service),” he said in a written memo. “That is essential.”