UK-Iraq: Public inquiry into death of Baha Mousa
01 August 2008
In May the Ministry of Defence (MoD) bowed to public and legal pressure and announced that a public inquiry will be held into the death of Baha Mousa, the torture, ill-treatment and abuse of his work colleagues and why banned "interrogation" techniques were used by the British military in Iraq. In December 2005 the Court of Appeal ruled that the government must conduct an effective investigation into Mousa's death; Richard Norton-Taylor, writing in
The Guardian newspaper (15.5.08), has suggested that the decision "was triggered by an anticipated order from a High Court judge to set up an inquiry". The decision was welcomed by General Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the army. In July the government announced that it will pay £2.83 million compensation to the family of the dead man and eight of his colleagues who were tortured by the British Army.
Baha Mousa, an Iraqi hotel receptionist, died in British military custody on 15 September 2003 after receiving multiple injuries (at least 93 separate wounds were found on his body) including fractured ribs and a broken nose that contributed to his death. He had been detained in British custody in Basra, along with eight work colleagues who had been hooded and subjected to systematic beatings. However, the announced parameters for the inquiry have been criticised for not going far enough by the international human rights organisation,
Redress, which helps torture survivors to obtain justice, (see
Statewatch Vol. 14 nos 3/4; Vol 15 nos 3/4 2005).
Mousa is one of dozens of Iraqi citizens known to have suffered torture and ill-treatment at the hands of UK troops in Iraq. His death, 36 hours after his arrest, was attributed to asphyxia and prompted the MoD to pay a nominal compensation, seen by many as an attempted bribe, to Baha's family in January 2004. In March 2007 seven members of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment (QLR), including Colonel Jorge Mendonca, the commanding officer, faced a court martial. One of the men, Corporal Payne, was charged with manslaughter but pleaded guilty at the beginning of the court martial to a separate charge of inhumane treatment and was cleared of the manslaughter count. Two officers and an NCO charged with negligently performing their duty were cleared as were a sergeant accused of common assault and two others of inhumane treatment. Corporal Payne was also acquitted on charges of perverting the course of justice. Following the precedent set in previous Iraq court martials, no one was convicted of killing Mousa and the court martial judge said that the accused had erected "a wall of silence":
"[N]one of these soldiers has been charged with any offence simply because there is no evidence against them as a result of a more or less obvious closing of ranks."
Of the nine charges against the soldiers, eight were dismissed, a ruling that the solicitor representing the family described as "giving nothing to the victims, and raises more questions that it answers". Campaigners described the court martial court process as a whitewash.
Redress, while welcoming the government's announcement emphasised that "this long overdue inquiry does not go far enough". Carole Ferstman said:
"Although Baha Mousa's death was one of the worst incidents there are many other legitimate unanswered questions about the whole civilian detention programme... we believe that the inquiry should cover every credible allegation of civilian abuse."
In April, while giving evidence to the UK parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, Ferstman dismissed the MoD's arguments about a few "rogue soldiers" asserting that it was "symptomatic of a more widespread failure to prevent torture" that exposed "serious failures in the way torture and ill-treatment occurred." The highlighted issues included the use of interrogation techniques (hooding, beatings and hi-pitch "black" noise) that were banned by then Conservative prime minister, Edward Heath, in 1972 after the European Court condemned the use of inhuman and degrading treatment by British soldiers on Irish republican prisoners.
Prior to 1972 the British military had been frequently been accused of using systematic torture and arbitrary execution in Aden, Oman and Kenya, among others, where the practice has been described as government policy. But despite convincing corroborating evidence, including numerous eye-witness observers and personal testimony, these allegations have been dismissed by successive governments.
Redress website: www.redress.org; Redress "Court Martial Aquittals in Baha Mousa case: the full truth of what happened remains unkown" 14.3.07; BBC "A Good Kicking: http://news.bbc.co.uk1/hi/programmes/panarama/6455113.stm