The British courts martial will be hearing cases of the four British soldiers accused of committing crimes in Iraq, the UK government announced on 19 July. This is the first time that British soldiers who served in Iraq will face war crimes charges, a defence ministry spokesperson said. According to the daily newspaper The Guardian, a total of eleven soldiers are due to be prosecuted in two separate trials. In the first, seven men are charged in connection with a number of offences including the death of an Iraqi detainee in Basra (southern Iraq) in September 2003. The second case involves four soldiers accused of murdering an Iraqi civilian in May 2003, also in Basra.