British Muslim Reservist Fights Charge of Refusing to Fight in Iraq

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, August 01, 2003

British Muslim Reservist Fights Charge of Refusing to Fight in Iraq

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A British Muslim reservist airman is bringing a test case against the British Ministry of Defense after he was disciplined for refusing to take part in the US-led war against Iraq, local reports said Thursday.

Moshin Khan, a 24-year-old reservist of the Royal Air Force (RAF), who was called up for duty but failed to turn up earlier this year, is appealing on the religious grounds that his faith forbids him from fighting other Muslims, the reports said.

Khan was arrested by police after the ministry charged him withgoing absent without leave from his base at RAF Honington in Suffolk, eastern England.

Khan is not the only person to have refused to serve in Iraq. Two other British servicemen, a private and an air technician from16 Air Assault Brigade, were sent home from the Gulf after refusing to fight for moral reasons.

Disciplinary action for going absent without leave would normally involve seven days' restrictions and nine days' forfeiture of pay, the reports quoted a RAF spokeswoman as saying.

Khan's appeal was expected to be heard at an open court hearing before a judge advocate at RAF Uxbridge, west London, the reports said.

The reports also said Khan's lawyers would argue that the European convention on human rights gives everyone, including military personnel, the right to freedom of religious belief.

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