- British soldiers called hooded Iraqi detainees by footballers'
names as they kicked and beat them, The Independent on Sunday has been
told. One of the Iraqis subsequently died.
-
- Kifah Taha, a hotel worker who suffered acute renal failure
after being kicked by soldiers during questioning, said each of the Iraqis
was given a nickname.
-
- "They called us by the names of footballers,"
he said, "and kept telling us to repeat them, so we would remember
who we were."
-
- One of Mr Taha's hotel colleagues, Baha Mousa, a 26-year-old
receptionist, died in custody after being arrested with seven of his colleagues
in Basra last September by troops from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment,
based in Catterick in North Yorkshire.
-
- The Ministry of Defence said last week that reports of
a possible manslaughter charge were "speculation".
-
- The MoD is investigating the previously unreported death
in British custody of Ather Karen al-Mowafakiaon 29 April last year. Officials
say his death was listed separately from six other deaths in custody because
it occurred before the end of the Iraq war.
-
- Adam Price, a Plaid Cymru MP, said he had been warned
off visiting Basra next month to make further inquiries.
-
- "I will be given no protection and my safety cannot
be guaranteed," he said. "The Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw,
has told me that if I do go I 'will be killed'.There seems to be a deliberate
attempt to prevent the information reaching the public domain - because
these are embarrassing headlines."
-
- A spokesman for the MoD denied it was dragging its feet
or preventing information reaching the public. "We're talking to witnesses
in Iraq and people in the UK," he said.
-
- http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=491487
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