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British soldiers 'kicked Iraqi prisoner to death'
By Robert Fisk in Basra
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/story.jsp?story=477915
04 January 2004   The Independent

Eight young Iraqis arrested in Basra were kicked and assaulted by British
soldiers, one of them so badly that he died in British custody, according to
military and medical records seen by The Independent on Sunday.

Amnesty International has urged its members to protest directly to Tony
Blair about the death of Baha Mousa, the son of an Iraqi police colonel, and
to demand an impartial and independent investigation into the apparent
torture of the Basra prisoners. A major at 33 Field Hospital outside the
southern Iraqi city said that one of the survivors suffered "acute renal
failure" after "he was assaulted ... and sustained severe bruising to his
upper abdomen, right side of chest, left forearms and left upper inner
thigh".

British military authorities have offered Mr Mousa's relatives $8,000 (
?4,500) in compensation, providing they are not held responsible for his
death, but the young hotel receptionist's family plans to take the Ministry
of Defence to court. His body was returned to them, covered in bruises and
with his nose broken, after he and seven colleagues were arrested by British
forces in Basra last September and held in military custody for three days.

One of the other workers has given a frightening account of their ordeal.
Baha Mousa, he says, was tied and hooded and then repeatedly kicked and
assaulted by British troops, begging all the while to have the hood removed
because he could no longer breathe.

A death certificate provided by the British Army states that Baha Mousa had
died of "asphyxia". A restricted medical document from a British hospital
says a surviving prisoner, Kifah Taha, suffered his injuries "due to a
severe beating". The IoS has copies of both documents.

After Mr Mousa's death, the Army's Special Investigation Branch opened an
investigation. The Ministry of Defence told the IoS yesterday that there was
"nothing in the records to suggest an inquiry was not still ongoing". But
two soldiers who were arrested have since been released, and no charges have
been made.

Mr Mousa's violent death left two children orphaned: his 22-year-old wife
died of cancer shortly before his detention by British troops.

Full story, page 16 (read below)



'The British said my son would be free soon. Three days later I had his
body'

Robert Fisk reports from Basra on the 'death in custody' of the son of an
Iraqi police colonel and evidence that he was savagely and deliberately
beaten to death by British soldiers
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/story.jsp?story=477908
04 January 2004   The Independent