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 05 July 2008 23:25 BST

Independent inquiry into Baha Mousa death launched

Wednesday, 14 May 2008 15:54
Defence secretary Des Browne said a public inquiry was "the right thing to do"
The government has announced a public inquiry into the case of an Iraqi hotel receptionist who died while in the custody of the UK army.

Baha Mousa, 26, died at a British detention centre on September 15th 2003, with a post-mortem showing he had suffered 93 identifiable injuries.

Six soldiers from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment were acquitted of negligence and abuse while a corporal was jailed after admitting inhuman treatment.

No one has ever been convicted of Mr Mousa's killing, leading to his relatives launching a high profile compensation claim in the UK courts.

Defence secretary Des Browne, who earlier this year said Mr Mousa had been denied his right to life under the European convention on human rights, said a public inquiry was "the right thing to do".

"It will reassure the public that we are leaving no stone unturned in investigating his tragic death. The army has nothing to hide in this respect and is keen to learn all the lessons it can from this terrible incident."

General Sir Richard Dannatt, chief of the general staff, personally pledged to ensure that the army cooperated in any way it could with the inquiry.

"The army expects only the very highest standards from all officers and soldiers and any failure to achieve those standards, however rare, is unacceptable to us," Gen Dannatt insisted.

"The scope of this inquiry is still under consideration and details will be made public once they have been established. Findings of the inquiry will also be published once it has been concluded."

Human rights organisation Liberty has welcomed the inquiry but demanded it be led by a senior judge, involve the victim's family and be suitably transparent.

Its director Shami Chakrabarti commented: "The British military is completely right to seek to discover how torture techniques banned by the Heath government in 1972 came to be used against vulnerable detainees in Iraq."End of story


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