Married with a one-year-old daughter, R. Mageed is desperate to escape the fear and intimidation he suffers because of his job as an interpreter.

“Please, to the Queen of England, help us,” the 23-year-old Iraqi told The Times on a small military camp just outside Basra where he is living with three other local interpreters.

At first, Mr Mageed leapt at the chance to work for the British military in Iraq. He had been studying English at university. “When I started my work three years ago there was no trouble. All the people liked the British. I wanted to help them,” the young man said, surrounded by the three other Iraqi interpreters, who were all just as anxious to tell their story.

“At the time, however, the militias were forming and the people started to support the militia and hate the British Army. That put all the Iraqi interpreters in danger. One of our friends, Ali, was shot dead.”

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Multimedia

• Video: the online war

• Pictures: Life in Iraq

BACKGROUND

• Story of brothers who worked for the British

• I’ve no regrets, says interpreter

• What’s Arabic for ‘we’ll stand by you’?

• Abandoned: the 91 Iraqis who risked all

They dare to travel home only once a week for a two-day break before coming back to work. “What will we do when the British troops leave Iraq? If we stay the militia will kill us,” Mr Mageed said.

Stuck in small cabins, with little to do other than chat to each other and the Irish Guards who are training members of the Iraqi Army, the interpreters say they long for a life of freedom, and without fear. “We want refugee status from the British because the Danish gave their interpreters asylum,” a second member of the group, A. Yassin, 36, said.

A few miles away many more Iraqi interpreters are living at the main British military headquarters. Most have a similar desire to escape Iraq.

Last month, J. Kaiby received a call from his wife telling him that 12 militiamen had just raided their house in Basra looking for him. “Needless to say this is going to force me to stay away from the house and my family for a long time,” he said. Mr Kaiby never imagined that his decision to use his English-language skills to help the British forces when they arrived in southern Iraq in 2003 would cause him to fear for his life.

“This is a horrible thing. We, who started to work with the British to help build their country, now find ourselves in such a critical situation,” he said, “We do not know what horrible fate will become us simply because we are interpreters.”

The armed gang who stormed his house took his computer and Iraqi identity card, turning him into a wanted man if he steps off the base to see his wife and sons, aged 6 and 11, and daughter, 5.

Many British soldiers have formed great friendships with their interpreters. “They have a detailed knowledge of the local area and understanding of the people. The majority of the work I do I could not do without my interpreter,” Flight Lieutenant Mark Mankowski, 31, said.

One British officer said: “I believe everyone who helps our country should, after a while, earn their right to be given citizenship.”

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