- LONDON (Reuters) -- Eight
young Iraqis arrested in the southern Iraqi town of Basra last year were
assaulted by British soldiers, and one of them died of his injuries, a
British newspaper said in its Sunday edition.
-
- Baha Mousa's body was returned to his family covered
in bruises and with his nose broken, after he and seven other men were
arrested by British forces in September 2003 and held in military custody
for three days, the Independent on Sunday said.
-
- The newspaper said in its report by veteran Middle East
correspondent Robert Fisk that it had seen military and medical records
of the case showing that the father of two suffered his injuries in a severe
beating.
-
- British military authorities offered Mousa's family $8,000
in compensation, providing they were not held responsible for his death,
but his relatives planned to take Britain's Ministry of Defense to court,
the newspaper said.
-
- A Ministry of Defense spokeswoman declined to give details
about the case. "There is an ongoing military police investigation
into a death that we had in custody," she said.
-
- Copyright © 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited
without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable
for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance
thereon.
-
- http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040103
/ts_nm/iraq_britain_prisoner_dc&cid=564&ncid=1478
|
