Britain has not fired a shot at Iran. But its bases, its jets and its diplomatic cover have made America’s campaign possible.

Did Britain’s focus on discrediting lawyers and fixers accused of pursuing false claims in Iraq ultimately obscure credible evidence of civilian harm, leaving many Iraqi victims of British military action without investigation, recognition or justice?

Drawing on Iraqi police affidavits, court records, death certificates and eyewitness testimony, this report documents the killing of Mohammed Midel and his wife Kfaya Majid by British forces during a night raid in Basra in April 2007, the serious wounding of Saad Quasim, and the complete absence of any meaningful investigation or accountability despite extensive contemporaneous evidence.

The death of Mustafa Jabbar Al-Kadhim, killed by a British military vehicle in Basra in 2004, was formally acknowledged and investigated by UK authorities but ultimately dismissed as non-culpable, leaving his family without compensation, accountability or justice.

In March 2003, during the opening days of Britain’s invasion of Iraq, a British tank shell struck a family home in Basra, leaving civilian Hassan Jouma Raheem catastrophically injured, uninvestigated and uncompensated more than two decades later.

In April 2008, during the final phase of Britain’s military presence in Basra, a British air strike destroyed a family home in the Mouhandseen district, killing four members of the Ghlame family and leaving survivors without formal investigation, acknowledgement or compensation.

Nathem Jabber Aty, an Iraqi civilian shot during chaotic fighting near Umm Qasr in March 2003, was evacuated by British forces for surgery in Kuwait but died alone shortly afterwards, with his family never formally notified, his body never returned, and his burial location still unknown.

An eight-year-old Iraqi girl was killed by a British soldier’s gunfire in Basra in 2003, a death acknowledged at the time through visits, payments and correspondence but never formally investigated, prosecuted or compensated by the UK state.

An RAF missile strike on a football game in Basra in 2007 left Hassan Ali Abood Hassan paralysed for 18 years before his death in 2025, exposing how civilian harm during Britain’s occupation of Iraq was neither properly investigated nor meaningfully remedied.

A 2008 British helicopter strike in Basra reportedly killed mechanic Nasser Quasem Drbash, his wife and two young children.

This report examines the reported deaths of Ali Touma Abdullah and his two-year-old daughter Athraa in Basra on 27 March 2003 during British military operations.

A series of reports by Action on Armed Violence reveals that Britain’s military justice system is mired in secrecy, impunity, and institutional evasion, with elite units shielded from scrutiny, whistleblowers silenced, and the Ministry of Defence systematically resisting accountability.