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Beating of Iraqi 'left stain' on UK forces
Source: Agencies |
September 9, 2011, Friday
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BRITISH soldiers beat to death an Iraqi civilian in an act of "unjustified and brutal violence" that left a "very great stain" on the UK's armed forces, an inquiry concluded yesterday.
Former judge William Gage, who led a three-year investigation, said senior officers should have done more to prevent the 2003 death of hotel worker Baha Mousa.
Mousa, 26, was repeatedly kicked and punched over a 36-hour period while being held at a British military base in the southern city of Basra.
Hooded and handcuffed, the father-of-two suffered 93 visible injuries, including a broken nose and broken ribs.
One British soldier, Corporal Donald Payne, boasted to colleagues of conducting a "choir" by beating Mousa and other prisoners so that they cried out in sequence, the inquiry heard.
The inquiry found no evidence of a culture of violence among British forces in Basra. However, it criticized the then head of the First Battalion of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Jorge Mendonca.
"As commanding officer, he ought to have known what was going on long before Baha Mousa died," Gage said.
Payne, the only soldier convicted over Mousa's death, received a year in prison for inhumane treatment.
Former judge William Gage, who led a three-year investigation, said senior officers should have done more to prevent the 2003 death of hotel worker Baha Mousa.
Mousa, 26, was repeatedly kicked and punched over a 36-hour period while being held at a British military base in the southern city of Basra.
Hooded and handcuffed, the father-of-two suffered 93 visible injuries, including a broken nose and broken ribs.
One British soldier, Corporal Donald Payne, boasted to colleagues of conducting a "choir" by beating Mousa and other prisoners so that they cried out in sequence, the inquiry heard.
The inquiry found no evidence of a culture of violence among British forces in Basra. However, it criticized the then head of the First Battalion of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Jorge Mendonca.
"As commanding officer, he ought to have known what was going on long before Baha Mousa died," Gage said.
Payne, the only soldier convicted over Mousa's death, received a year in prison for inhumane treatment.
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