Another charge has been dropped against British soldiers accused of abusing of Iraqi prisoners in Basra.

The allegation that Lance Corporal Mark Cooley, 25, was photographed posing as though kicking the prisoner at an aid camp called Camp Bread Basket has been withdrawn from the list of accusations against him.

He still faces two charges, including posing for a photograph while pretending to punch a prisoner.

Last week, two charges relating to the sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners were also dropped, after a key prosecution witness changed his evidence.

Prosecutors said that they would not proceed with an allegation against Lance Corporal Darren Larkin that he forced captured men to strip moments before they were forced to perform a simulated "sex show".

Lance Corporal Larkin, 30, from Oldham, Greater Manchester, has already admitted assaulting one of the prisoners after he was pictured in his boxer shorts standing on top of him.

A charge against Corporal Daniel Kenyon, 33, from Newcastle upon Tyne, of aiding and abetting Larkin was also dropped last week.

The changes to the charge sheet mean that the panel of seven military officers trying the men at a court martial in Osnabruck, Germany, is now hearing evidence on seven charges against two soldiers - two against Lance Corporal Cooley and five against Corporal Kenyon.

Today Judge Advocate Michael Hunter ordered that the reasons that the charge was being withdrawn against Lance Corporal Cooley could be not be publicly reported.

The two accused, of the 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, deny all the remaining charges of abusing and assaulting prisoners detained for looting food from the camp in May 2003.

Corporal Kenyon today became the first of the accused soldiers to enter the witness box. He told the court he would never knowingly commit an act of wrongdoing in the army.

Asked by his barrister Joseph Giret "do you think you have moral courage?" he replied: "I’ve got loads of it sir."

The court heard that Kenyon enlisted in 1989 when he was 17 and his family had a long history of service in the army. He later spoke about having to leave his regiment after the death of his first wife, Ruth, from deep vein thrombosis in April 1996.

Mr Giret said: "You left for work on the 29th April 1996 and when you returned home you found your wife Ruth dead on the living room floor and saw your son with her and he was totally dehydrated, that’s because he had been crying all day."

When asked to describe how he felt he said: "I don’t think I can find the words for it." The court heard that Kenyon had since remarried and now looked after his son from his first marriage Mark, nine, and a child, Robbie, two, from his second marriage.

The court martial centres around photos taken by a soldier who was arrested in England after taking the film to be developed. The pictures provoked widespread dismay, leading to comparisons with the scandal over abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US soldiers at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad.

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