Inquiry into Baha Mousa death begins

Monday, 13, Jul 2009 09:07

An inquiry into the death of an Iraqi civilian arrested by British soldiers in Basra six years ago is due to begin later.

Lead counsel to the inquiry Gerard Elias will outline what evidence needs to be considered across its three 'modules' today.

Baha Mousa, a 26-year-old Iraqi hotel receptionist, was found dead two days after being arrested by British soldiers in September 2003 with 93 identifiable injuries on his body.

A subsequent post-mortem showed he died of asphyxiation.

A court martial held three years later resulted in the acquittal of six men. A seventh, Corporal Donald Payne, was jailed for 12 months after admitting inhumanly treating Iraqi civilians in custody.

The new inquiry, to be chaired by Sir William Gage, will first examine the history of 'conditioning' techniques used by British army personnel, a statement confirmed.

The case of Mr Mousa will then also be looked at, as well as the treatment of detainees by British soldiers in Basra.

Training and the chain of command within the British army will finally be examined. However, hearings are not expected to conclude until the middle of next year.

The Ministry of Defence has already agreed to pay £2.83 million to families of detainees mistreated in Basra, including Mr Mousa.

Commenting on the start of the inquiry, Adjutant General, Lieutenant General Bill Rollo, said: "The Army welcomes the beginning of this public inquiry into the events surrounding the death of Mr Baha Mousa in September 2003.

"The inquiry will independently identify what went wrong, will help us to understand how and why Mr Mousa died, and ensure that every possible lesson from this incident is learnt. The MoD and the Army are cooperating fully with the inquiry."

He continued: "While over 120,000 British Service Personnel have served in Iraq with bravery and distinction over 6 years of a difficult and arduous campaign, the failure of even a few to meet our own high standards is unacceptable.

"It was for that reason that a number of officers and soldiers were court martialled for offences relating to Mr Mousa's death and one NCO was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment and dismissed from the Army. We have done a great deal in the intervening years to improve our training and procedures but we firmly believe that there is more to learn."