Documents relating to the Iraq Historic Allegations Team, established in 2010 to investigate allegations of unlawful killings and ill-treatment of Iraqi civilians by UK service personnel.
Established in March 2010, the Iraq Historic Allegations Team (IHAT) was mandated to investigate allegations of criminal conduct by UK forces in Iraq between 2003 and 2009. IHAT was created following extensive litigation from Iraqis alleging unlawful killings and detainee mistreatment. This litigation had already resulted in two major public inquiries, the Baha Mousa Inquiry and Al-Sweady Inquiry, and the government was keen to avoid another.
Initially staffed by the Royal Military Police (RMP), IHAT began with a caseload of 165 incidents and was intended to finish work in late 2012. However, further legal challenges significantly expanded the number of incidents, peaking in September 2015 at over 1500. Throughout its existence, IHAT was dogged by criticisms of its independence, timeliness and effectiveness. Following another legal challenge, the RMP were replaced by the Royal Navy Police (RNP), over concerns about the former’s independence. Further challenges resulted in the Attorney General appointing former Director of Public Prosecutions, Sir David Calvert-Smith, to conduct a review of IHAT in 2016. Later reforms lowered the threshold for discontinuing investigations, and around the same time, investigations deemed to be disproportionate or lacking evidence began being closed en masse.
IHAT concluded in 2017, while it still had 34 active investigations ongoing and many more allegations which had yet to be reviewed. Despite ultimately receiving approximately 3400 allegations and costing over £35 million, no prosecutions were ever brought.
