Donald Payne (British Army soldier)

Corporal Donald Payne (born 9 September 1970) is a former soldier of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment of the British Army who became the first member of the British armed forces to be convicted of a war crime under the provisions of the International Criminal Court Act 2001 when he pleaded guilty on 19 September 2006 to a charge of inhumane treatment. He was jailed for one year and dismissed from the army.

Donald Payne joined the British Army on 5 June 1988, enlisting with the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, which subsequently amalgamated into the 1st Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment. He was promoted to the substantive rank of Corporal on 30 June 2000. As an NCO he worked as a Provost Corporal with the Regimental Police in Catterick Garrison. He also served in Iraq, South Armagh, and the Former Yugoslavia

He had earned the following decorations/awards: General Service Medal with Northern Ireland clasp, NATO Medal with Former Yugoslavia clasp, Accumulated Campaign Service Medal, The Queen's Jubilee Medal and the Iraq Medal His service career ended on 30 April 2007 when he was reduced to the ranks and dismissed from Her Majesty's armed forces for his conduct in Iraq.

On 14 September 2003, a number of Iraqis were detained by British forces in raids on hotels in Basra. The detainees were taken to a three-room building in Basra, where they were questioned for 36 hours. Among the detainees was Baha Mousa, a 26-year-old employee of the Haitham Hotel in Basra, who died as a result of the interrogation. The subsequent post-mortem found 93 injuries, including fractured ribs and a broken nose. Detainees claimed that the British soldiers had held kicking competitions, competing to see who could kick the prisoners the furthest. Prisoners were also made to assume stress positions and were beaten and kicked if they failed to do so.

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