ANTI-WAR campaigners said today that justice has been denied after the government confirmed that armed forces police have closed all investigations into alleged war crimes by British military personnel in Iraq.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace announced on Tuesday that the Service Police Legacy Investigations (SPLI) has “officially closed its doors,” having brought no prosecutions despite investigating 1,291 cases.

The minister said that he wanted to “draw a line under the legacy of our operations in Iraq,” after offering a brief apology that certain investigations in Iraq had failed to collect the required evidence.

Campaigners condemned the excuses, with the Peace Pledge Union (PPU) saying today that allowing the armed forces to police themselves made a mockery of justice. 

The PPU said that the outcome raises wider questions about military power, given that the armed forces are Britain’s only institutions allowed to run their own criminal courts and maintain their own police forces.

The decision to drop the investigations followed a sustained campaign by the militarist lobby, which persistently promoted the myth of British veterans being “dragged through the courts.”

The PPU noted that, in reality, armed forces personnel are almost never prosecuted for war-related crimes. 

Campaigns manager Symon Hill said: “There can be no ‘drawing a line’ for innocent Iraqi people who suffered in the invasion or for the relatives of British troops who died so needlessly. Pain and injustice cannot so easily be forgotten.

“Bungled and delayed investigations have seen inquiries abandoned, victims denied justice and some suspects and witnesses kept waiting for years.”

Chris Nineham of the Stop the War Coalition branded the decision a scandal, adding: “Wallace and the MoD [Ministry of Defence] follow in a long line of politicians and civil servants covering up British atrocities abroad. They should feel ashamed of themselves, but almost certainly don’t.”

The news comes less than a year after the International Criminal Court (ICC) reported that there was “a reasonable basis” to believe that British military personnel committed war crimes. 

The ICC did not launch prosecutions because investigations were still under way in Britain.

Speaking after the announcement, Mr Wallace said: “It is sadly clear, from all the investigations the UK conducted, that some shocking and shameful incidents did happen in Iraq.

“We recognise that there were four convictions of UK military personnel for offences in Iraq, including offences of assault and inhuman treatment.

“The government’s position is clear – we deplore and condemn all such incidents.”