Free weekly the Camden New Journal scooped the national press when its own Iraq correspondent reported allegations that British troops had killed Iraqi prisoners, writes Dominic Ponsford.
Lee Gordon has been reporting from Iraq since the start of the war, freelancing for the nationals as well as filing stories for his old paper, the CNJ.
The allegations that Iraqi prisoners had been killed and their bodies mutilated last month after a battle in the southern town of Majar al-Kabir appeared first on the CNJ’s website. The story was later published on the front page of The Sunday Telegraph and separately reported by The Guardian.
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Eric Gordon, CNJ editor and Lee’s father, said: “The story was sent on Wednesday, too late for our paper, so I decided to put it on the website the following day.
“This paper has a fairly wide appeal. It is not a typical free paper and I’ve always thought it’s a good idea to have these sorts of stories in. I’m rather chuffed that this week we’ve actually beaten the other papers.”
The MODhas denied the allegations, saying troops only removed bodies from the battlefield.
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