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The Report of the Iraq Inquiry
350.  On 26 February, Mr Hutton placed in the House of Commons Library a list of
all individuals held in UK detention facilities in Iraq, first at the Shaibah Divisional
Temporary Detention Facility and subsequently at the Contingency Operating Base
in Basra.138 The list had been compiled following a review of the record of detainee
numbers commissioned by Mr Browne “to satisfy himself that appropriate procedures
were in place to ensure that persons captures by UK forces and transferred to US
detention in Iraq were treated in accordance with UK policy and legal requirements”.
351.  Mr Hutton told the House of Commons that some previous government statements
on the number of detainees had been inaccurate; on three occasions they had
overstated the number of detainees held in the period following January 2004 by 1,000.
The information below was placed in the Library of the House of Commons by Mr Hutton
on the same day.
Table 1: Number of detainees held in Iraq by the UK139 139140141
Interned
Released Escaped Deceased
Transferred
to US
Transferred
to Iraqi
system
Detainees
held at
year end
Dec
2003
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
Total
105140
44
230
47
136
77
12
105 + 546
9
219
21
66
165141
11
491
1
11
12
1
1
140
2 124 23
12 37
107
35
42
6 141
0
352.  Mr Miliband visited Baghdad and Basra on 26 and 27 February.142 In a minute to
Mr Brown reporting the visit he described it as:
“… an opportunity to highlight with the GoI in Baghdad our new and positive agenda
and to explain that we want to use 2009 to build up a comprehensive UK-Iraq
138  House of Commons, Official Report, 31 January 2003, columns 394-397.
139  House of Commons Library, 26 February 2009, ‘Record of Detainees – Review Conclusions;
Oral Statement by Defence Secretary – 26 February 2009’.
140  These individuals were transferred from US custody when the Shaibah base opened in
December 2003.
141  This number includes 14 individuals released on bail.
142  Letter Miliband to Prime Minister, 9 March 2009, ‘My Visit to Iraq: 26-27 February’.
440
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