Mick Hartley

Maybe this will help Gordon Brown make up his mind:

Mohammad’s body was found dumped in wasteland on the outskirts of Basra. His killers had burnt cigarettes into his back, broken one of his hands and legs and shot him three times in the head and twice in the chest. His crime: to have worked as an interpreter for the British in Iraq.

Both he and Alaa chose to become interpreters for the coalition because they wanted to help to build a better future for their country. Mohammad, 25, father of a six-month-old son, was the first interpreter to be killed — or at least his was the first killing to be recorded — since Gordon Brown promised to review the Government’s refusal to give interpreters special help in seeking asylum.

“We are being targeted because we have worked for the British Forces,” Alaa, 24, said. He did not want to give his family name for fear of being recognised.

Shia militiamen in Basra have a hit-list of people who work, or previously worked, as interpreters for the British-led coalition in southern Iraq, according to Iraqi interpreters and a police source.

They consider all such people to be spies and collaborators who deserve to die, the sources say. In addition, some employees on Britain’s main military base in Basra are suspected of passing information about interpreters to local militias who single them out to be killed. “They watch who is working with the British Army to see who should be killed or kidnapped,” Alaa said. He feels that he is a priority target on the list.