Iraqis claim prison torture by British

By SEVERIN CARRELL in London

The Iraqi hotel workers were given a simple choice. Either reveal the whereabouts of a suspected Iraqi insurgent, said the British Army officer, or face further violent abuse.

None of the six men knew where the suspect was, so the hoods were shoved back over their heads and they were dragged away for more beatings by the Queen's Lancashire Regiment (QLR) soldiers.

The men's graphic accounts - revealed in statements given to the Independent on Sunday - include allegations of being punched, kicked, strangled, soaked with freezing water and hit with iron bars.

Their claims will deepen the controversy surrounding the QLR which erupted this month over the hoax Daily Mirror pictures that allegedly showed its members torturing Iraqi prisoners.

These allegations are potentially far more serious. They allege interrogations were overseen by a British officer at the Army's Basra headquarters, contradicting claims that a few soldiers were to blame.

One of the six victims, Bahaa' Hashim Mohammed, a 26-year-old labourer, said the officer "threatened me with severe torture if I did not talk". Their injuries included damaged kidneys, broken ribs, a hernia and serious scarring.

The six were among eight men arrested during a raid by QLR troops on the Ibn al-Haytham hotel in Basra in September, following reports the hotel was a base for Iraqi insurgents.

Up to six QLR soldiers are facing prosecution for allegedly torturing to death the hotel's receptionist, an Iraqi colonel's son called Baha Mousa, after the raid.

The Mousa case, revealed by Robert Fisk in the newspaper in January, has emerged as the most serious of nearly 40 cases of allegedly unlawful killings of Iraqi civilians and prisoners by British forces since the invasion in March last year.

RAF police are investigating one case, the death of an Iraqi prisoner, who died in April 2003 as he was being transported in an RAF helicopter. In one other case, soldiers are facing criminal prosecution after the case was taken up last week by the Attorney-General, Lord Goldsmith.

Mousa's death, from heart failure and asphyxia, has been at the centre of protests to the Government from the International Committee of the Red Cross and Amnesty International about alleged abuses by coalition forces.

It will now be at the centre of a July High Court hearing into demands by lawyers and civil rights campaigners for an independent inquiry into the behaviour of British troops during the Iraq occupation. Nearly two weeks ago, a High Court judge said there was an "arguable case" that British forces in Iraq were bound by the Human Rights Act and these cases "could give rise to criminal proceedings".

The new witness statements, which will be submitted as part of the High Court action by human rights lawyer Phil Shiner, follow existing allegations from a seventh man arrested at the hotel, Kifah Taha, that the beatings were systematic.

Their testimony suggests the QLR raid on the hotel descended into chaos. One of their chief suspects, the hotel's co-owner, Haitham Vaha, escaped through a side door.

As soldiers searched the building, several were seen by hotel staff stealing 4.5 million Iraqi dinars from the hotel safe. According to one witness, Radif Tahir Muslim, a 29-year-old labourer working for the hotel, they were "punched" by an officer and forced to hand over the money.

Until now, the soldiers involved in the raid were thought to have abused their prisoners in revenge for being caught stealing money or in retaliation for the murder by insurgents of a popular QLR captain, Dai Jones, killed in a roadside bomb.

However, the new witnesses link their abuse directly to the QLR's attempts to find Haitham. In all cases, the first day of beatings culminated in being questioned by an officer about Haitham's whereabouts.

Muslim describes taking soldiers to Haitham's house to find him. Even so, he was taken back to the Army's headquarters at Al-Hakimia in a hood, beaten with an iron bar and pinched "very hard".

According to several of the witnesses, as each was taken in and out of the cell, the soldiers crisply saluted the officer carrying out their interrogations.

One of the men arrested and tortured, Ahmad Taha Mousa Al-Mutairi, was the brother of Kifah Taha, the man hospitalised with kidney failure and also the hotel's co-owner. He was called to the hotel to hand over the safe keys and was arrested. After being punched and kicked, he was taken before an officer who promised he would be released if he revealed Haitham's location. Al-Mutairi did not know.

Unable to help, "the hood was put back on my head and I was tortured for three days with no sleep or food. I was beaten on my genitals which resulted in a hernia. I have also sustained broken ribs and concussions [sic] in my chest, legs and body."

Mohammed claimed "soldiers took it in turns beating us non-stop with their hands and boots as well as an iron bar". When he fell to the ground in exhaustion, they "would strangle me with their hands".

"When I woke up, I found a bottle with a bit of water that I drank, then I urinated in that bottle. A soldier came and emptied it in my mouth."

Another hotel worker, Jawad Kadhim Chamil, 45, said: "One soldier punched me and broke three of my teeth. Another punched me in my eye. They used to sit me cross-legged and five soldiers would sit on top of me. I sustained a split in my anus and a few of my ribs were also broken."

Like every other witness, the oldest victim, Sattar Shukri Abdulla, 51, who suffered broken ribs, recalls hearing Baha Mousa's beating and cries before he died. All six are now expected to sue the Ministry of Defence for damages for their injuries.

- INDEPENDENT

Herald Feature: Iraq