An RAF doctor was found guilty by a court martial today of failing to comply with lawful orders after he refused to serve in the Iraq war.

Flight Lieutenant Malcolm Kendall-Smith, 37, who likened the invasion of Iraq to a Nazi war crime, was convicted by a panel of five RAF officers on five charges including refusing to serve in Basra.

Mr Kendall-Smith, who has dual British and New Zealand citizenship and is based at RAF Kinloss in Morayshire, Scotland, had argued at the court that the on-going presence of American-led forces in Iraq was illegal.  

He told the military hearing in Aldershot, Hants, that he refused to serve in Basra, Iraq, last July because he did not want to be complicit with an "act of aggression" contrary to international law.

"I have evidence that the Americans were on a par with Nazi Germany with its actions in the Persian Gulf. I have documents in my possession which support my assertions," he told the court. "This is on the basis that on-going acts of aggression in Iraq and systematically applied war crimes provide a moral equivalent between the US and Nazi Germany."

Mr Kendall-Smith, who tutored in philosophy at a New Zealand university, added that he refused to take part in training and equipment fitting prior to the deployment because he believed these were "preparatory acts which were equally criminal as the act itself".

During the hearing, David Perry, prosecuting, said the case against Mr Kendall-Smith was that the orders were lawful and he had a duty to obey them as a commissioned officer.

He added that the question of the invasion of Iraq was irrelevant because it occurred prior to the charges, which date back to last year. And he said that at the time of the charges, the presence of coalition forces in Iraq was unquestionably legal because they were there at the request of the country's democratically-elected government.

The charges faced by Mr Kendall-Smith are that on June 1 2005 he failed to comply with a lawful order to attend RAF Kinloss, Moray, for pistol and rifle training, failed on June 6 2005 to attend a helmet fitting, and between June 12 and 24 2005 failed to attend a training course.

He also denies failing to comply with an order to attend a deployment briefing at RAF Lyneham on June 30 2005 and failing to comply with an order to replace a squadron leader for Operation Telic in Basra, Iraq, on July 12 2005.

Mr Kendall-Smith told the court that he considered the war in Iraq to be the equivalent of an "imperial invasion and occupation". He said he was extremely disturbed by America's "imperial campaign of military conquest", which was in direct conflict with his duties.

He added: "It struck me as incongruous and disturbing that the US air force published the phrase 'global power for America' on their documentation during the conflict. I found that the phrase 'global power for America' was imperial."

Mr Kendall-Smith denied he had refused the order because he did not want to be posted overseas.

Philip Sapsford, defending, said that Mr Kendall-Smith followed in the footsteps of the Anzac soldiers from Australia and New Zealand who joined the Allied forces in the two world wars by joining the RAF in August 2000.

"I have the honour to present to you an officer of impeccable character. He has an exemplary record. He served Her Majesty the Queen and her country not once, not twice but three times," he said. "He could have followed an easier route, the conscientious objector route, but he had not chosen to go down that route. He could have and would have been deployed anywhere in the world."

Mr Sapsford also read to the court the words of the late Robin Cook to the House of Commons when he resigned his post as Foreign Secretary. He said that Mr Kendall-Smith agreed with Mr Cook's position that the invasion of Iraq did not have the approval of the ruling international bodies of the UN and Nato.

The panel of RAF officers, led by Group Captain Paul Ridge, which took one and a half hours to reach its verdict, retired to consider sentence.