At least 8 Iraqis died in UK custody, inquiry told
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
London, March 17, IRNA -- Eight or more Iraqi civilians died in the custody of British troops in the weeks after the 2003 invasion, an inquiry into the death of Basra hotel worker Baha Mousa has been told.
Lieutenant Colonel Nicholas Mercer, the former head of the Army’s legal team in the country, described the way Iraqi detainees were intimidated and hooded by British soldiers as "repulsive".
Ten days after the March 2003 invasion, Mercer saw 20 or 30 detainees lined up with sandbags on their heads. It was "a bit like seeing pictures of Guantánamo Bay for the first time", he said.
The inquiry into the death of Mousa in September 2003 was launched last year after the British Defence Ministry accepted liability. A post-mortem examination found that he had sustained 93 separate injuries, while in British custody.
Giving evidence to the inquiry on Tuesday, Mercer said he repeated warnings about the unlawful treatment of Iraqis months before the killing of Mousa.
He described how in May 2003, two months after first issuing his warnings, military police investigators told him about two deaths in custody. They added that they thought there were "five or six more deaths that required investigation".
Human rights lawyer Phil Shiner, who represents Iraqi detainees, has said that there were 47 "unresolved cases" involving the mistreatment of civilians by British troops.
Last week, Armed Forces Minister Bill Rammell announced the setting up of a special dedicated team to investigate all cases of alleged abuse of Iraqi civilians by UK troops but insists the move is “not an admission of fault.”
“The uncertainty created by these allegations risks undermining unfairly their reputation and achievements, and we owe to them, and to the claimants, that these allegations are properly investigated,” Rammell told parliament.
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End News / IRNA / News Code 1018184
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