Please complain to the Daily Mail and reporters Nick Craven and Michael Seamark over an offensive article in the newspaper's February 25 edition entitled Revealed: The 'abuse' five.

Subheading: And guess what, all the Iraqis at the centre of the Army brutality case plan to cash in on their 'ordeal' by suing the Government

Note that the words abuse and ordeal are in quote marks, and the article talks of "their alleged ordeal". Why? Are they in any doubt?! The soldiers were convicted and there is ample photographic evidence.

As a glaring double standard, the Mail has an article of almost 1 page on page 13 (the Iraq abuse article is on pages 20 and 21) entitled Ordeal of Asian family who became Christians, in which the word ordeal is mentioned without quote marks in the headline and article.

The subheading and 4th paragraph claim the victims plan to "cash in". This is a disgusting insinuation as they are entitled to compensation and have not received any.

The 11th paragraph states that "none of the men asked for...any payment or inducement to them or their families in return for speaking to us." Wouldn't they have done so if they wanted to "cash in"?

The article claims: "It is predictable, though not very convincing, that none of the Iraqis admits to stealing bread or food from the vast United Nations warehouse complex in Basra."

How do the journalists know that what they say is "unconvincing". This is unsubstantiated opinion.

Other relevant paragraphs:

"We publish their testimony here not because we suggest every word is true, but because the court did not hear from them - nor was their account subject to rigorous cross-examination."

"Despite claims during the cases against the soldiers that the Army tried to trace the men in these photographs, the Mail, with the help of civilian Iraqi interpreters, managed to find them in just a few days."

"They all live within half a mile of Camp Breadbasket."

"...we understand they have been contacted by Birmingham-based human rights lawyer Phil Shiner, who is to include their cases in his bulging and fast-growing portfolio of legal actions against the British Army in Iraq."

"Two of the victims interviewed here claim they sustained broken elbows and another a broken collarbone during the incident in May 2003."

"They were claims that the Mail could not verify, despite extensive checks with medical sources in Basra. Whether the absence of records can be explained by the admittedly chaotic state of files in some hospitals is debatable, but again it is a matter which the court martial should properly have examined, particularly since one of the principal witnesses in the case was testifying as part of a plea-bargain deal."

Write to:

letters@dailymail.co.uk and/or m.seamark@dailymail.co.uk

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