Life sentence stays for British deserters

LONDON, May 23 (UPI) -- Britain's Parliament has refused to change the life sentence imposed on military deserters who refuse to serve in military occupations abroad, a report said.

While members of the Labor Party and Scottish National Party had tried to reduce the sentence to two years in prison, Parliament voted 442-19 to keep the penalty at life imprisonment.

John McDonnell, chairman of the Labor Party's Campaign Group, called the punishment "inhuman and barbaric" and part of a government crackdown on military members who oppose the war in Iraq, The Scotsman reported.

"Two years is enough for somebody who has, arguably, followed their own conscience," the SNP's Angus MacNeil argued.

However, opponents including Welsh Labor Party member Chris Bryant fought lessening the penalty for military deserters.

Such a move would "undermine many of our operations" and bring "ethical chaos" to the armed forces, Bryant said.