© The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. This article examines violence against detainees in British-controlled detention facilities in southeast Iraq from 2003 to 2008. I argue that various legal frameworks, domestic and international, failed to protect Iraqi detainees from violence while in British custody. Law could not penetrate the thick culture of impunity surrounding security force actions in Iraq. This is linked to obstacles in securing the 'truth' about violent assault, death and degradation in these detention facilities. I examine patterns of violence, particularly harmful pre-interrogation techniques originally employed in Northern Ireland, subsequently banned by the UK government, only to reemerge in British detention facilities in Iraq. I argue that a culture of impunity which does not lend itself to an open accounting surrounds these abuses, raising the question of whether the International Criminal Court will be able to prise open a space for an investigation of the facts without fear or favour.

中文翻译：

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追究责任：英国在伊拉克东南部控制的拘留，2003-2008

© 作者 2016。牛津大学出版社出版。版权所有。本文考察了 2003 年至 2008 年在伊拉克东南部英国控制的拘留设施中针对被拘留者的暴力行为。我认为，国内和国际的各种法律框架未能保护伊拉克被拘留者在英国拘留期间免受暴力侵害。法律无法渗透到围绕伊拉克安全部队行动的有罪不罚的浓厚文化中。这与在这些拘留设施中确保有关暴力袭击、死亡和退化的“真相”的障碍有关。我研究了暴力模式，特别是最初在北爱尔兰使用的有害预审技术，后来被英国政府禁止，结果又出现在英国在伊拉克的拘留设施中。