British Malayan headhunting scandal

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A political scandal took place in 1952, during the Malayan Emergency, where the British military and its allies in Malaya engaged in a systemic headhunting program targeting people suspected to be part of the communist Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA). Beginning in April 1952, under editor J.R. Campbell, the Daily Worker published several photos of British soldiers and their allies posing with severed heads. The British military initially denied the authenticity of the photos, then refused to comment, and then weeks later admitted that the photos were genuine. Campbell went on to send photographic evidence of British soldiers headhunting and scalping to the wider media, British politicians, and then-prime minister Winston Churchill. The practice was revealed to be widespread among British troops, sanctioned by general Gerald Templer. The scandal led to Churchill declaring that he would order the British military to stop this practice, although Churchill's order was widely ignored...

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