Soldiers 'laughed at Iraqi abuse'

British soldiers laughed and joked as they forced two naked Iraqis to simulate sex acts, a court martial heard today.

Fusilier Gary Bartlam, 20, told the hearing in Osnabr?ck, Germany, he took photographs of the abuse "to show his mother when he got home".

He said he walked out of his hangar and saw a gang of laughing soldiers surrounding two looters, who were made to simulate oral and anal sex.

"I took a photograph of what was happening while other soldiers were laughing, bantering. They got on to their knees, I don't know who ordered it or commanded them to do it, I hadn't been with the section long enough to remember names," Bartlam said.

He added: "The soldiers were acting what they wanted the Iraqis to do."

Bartlam sparked the Camp Bread Basket scandal when he took photographs of the alleged abuse to a highstreetphotographic shop in Tamworth, Staffordshire. He was later arrested.

Three of his colleagues are accused of abusing and assaulting prisoners at the aid camp in Basra. Bartlam was convicted of offences arising from the photography at an earlier hearing, details of which cannot be disclosed for legal reasons.

The fusilier had earlier told the court he was taking pictures of the whole of Operation Ali Baba to show people what he was doing in Iraq.

During cross-examination, he was asked to look at the picture showing two Iraqis apparently engaging in oral sex.

Joseph Giret, representing Corporal Daniel Kenyon, said: "That's a very nice picture to show your mum, isn't it?"

Bartlam said Sergeant Major Wilton Brown had given him and others permission to photograph looters for identification purposes. He also photographed Lance Corporal Mark Cooley driving a forklift truck with an Iraqi bound to the forks.

Kenyon, Cooley and Lance Corporal Darren Larkin are accused of abuse and assault. Kenyon and Cooley deny all the charges. Larkin admits assaulting an unknown male but denies forcing two males to undress. The case continues.