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13/04/2006
RAF doctor guilty of disobeying orders
An RAF doctor who refused to return to Iraq has been found guilty of disobeying orders at a court martial.
Flight Lieutenant Dr Malcolm Kendall-Smith, 37, who was based at RAF Kinloss in Scotland, was convicted by a panel of five RAF officers of five charges of failing to comply with lawful orders at the court martial in Aldershot. He was given an eight month jail sentence, dismissed from the RAF and was also ordered to pay £20,000 in costs.
Justin Hugheston-Roberts, Dr Kendall-Smith's solicitor, told the BBC that he would appeal agains the conviction and sentence.
The charges related to Dr Kendall-Smith's refusal to attend equipment fittings, a training course and a deployment briefing.
Dr Kendall-Smith, who holds dual British and New Zealand citizenship, had served twice before in Iraq but refused to return last June. He said that he believed that the war was illegal.
He told the military hearing that he refused to serve in Basra last year because he did not want to be complicit with an "act of aggression" contrary to international law.
However, David Perry, prosecuting, said that the orders were lawful and Dr Kendall-Smith had a duty to obey them as a commissioned officer.
He also said that the question of the invasion of Iraq was irrelevant because it occurred prior to the charges which dated back to last year and that the presence of coalition forces in Iraq at the time of the charges, was unquestionably legal, because they were there at the request of the country's democratically-elected government.
Philip Sapsford, defending, said that Mr Kendall-Smith was "an officer of impeccable character" and had an "exemplary record".
(KMcA)
Flight Lieutenant Dr Malcolm Kendall-Smith, 37, who was based at RAF Kinloss in Scotland, was convicted by a panel of five RAF officers of five charges of failing to comply with lawful orders at the court martial in Aldershot. He was given an eight month jail sentence, dismissed from the RAF and was also ordered to pay £20,000 in costs.
Justin Hugheston-Roberts, Dr Kendall-Smith's solicitor, told the BBC that he would appeal agains the conviction and sentence.
The charges related to Dr Kendall-Smith's refusal to attend equipment fittings, a training course and a deployment briefing.
Dr Kendall-Smith, who holds dual British and New Zealand citizenship, had served twice before in Iraq but refused to return last June. He said that he believed that the war was illegal.
He told the military hearing that he refused to serve in Basra last year because he did not want to be complicit with an "act of aggression" contrary to international law.
However, David Perry, prosecuting, said that the orders were lawful and Dr Kendall-Smith had a duty to obey them as a commissioned officer.
He also said that the question of the invasion of Iraq was irrelevant because it occurred prior to the charges which dated back to last year and that the presence of coalition forces in Iraq at the time of the charges, was unquestionably legal, because they were there at the request of the country's democratically-elected government.
Philip Sapsford, defending, said that Mr Kendall-Smith was "an officer of impeccable character" and had an "exemplary record".
(KMcA)
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