- Amid the furore caused by yesterday's publication of
photographs showing British troops abusing Iraqi prisoners were claims
by the Ministry of Defence and General Sir Michael Jackson, the Chief of
the General Staff, that the photographs were of an isolated incident caused
by the "ill discipline of a few soldiers".
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- But it is a year and two days since Ather Karen al-Mowafakia
died in British custody in Basra. During the next five months another six
men died while in the custody of British soldiers.
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- And it is four months since the first details of these
deaths first emerged in The Independent on Sunday, when our Middle East
correspondent, Robert Fisk, gave an account of the death of Baha Mousa,
26, a hotel receptionist. Mr Mousa was allegedly beaten to death in September
by members of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment - the same regiment shown
abusing prisoners in yesterday's photographs. Kifah Taha, a hotel worker
arrested at the same time as Mr Mousa and 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
and kept telling us to repeat them, so we would remember who we were."
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- A year after the first death, and six months after the
last, the Royal Military Police (RMP) is still investigating six cases.
No disciplinary action has been taken against any soldier, and no soldier
has been charged, although in the case of Mr Mousa possible manslaughter
charges are being considered by the Army Prosecuting Authority.
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- Frustrated at this lack of progress, Mr Mousa's father,
Colonel Daoud Mousa, a senior police officer, has decided to go to the
High Court in London on Wednesday to seek compensation and a full judicial
inquiry into his son's death. It is the first case of its kind involving
British forces in Iraq. The failure to clear up the cases quickly led to
charges yesterday that the MoD was involved in a "cover up".
The other six cases are:
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- * Ather Karen al-Mowafakia, who died on 29 April. No
more is known about him.
-
- * Radhi Natna, who died on 8 May. The RMP investigation
concluded that he died from natural causes after a heart attack and that
no further action needed to be taken. But his family says that he had no
history of heart trouble, and questions remain over his treatment.
-
- * Ahmad Jabber Kareem Ali, 17, also died on 8 May. According
to his friend Ayad Salim Hanoon, the two were arrested in Basra by British
troops, taken to the Shatt al-Basra waterway and ordered to swim across.
Ayad said: "We reached the deepest point but Ahmad couldn't swim.
He sank and I couldn't find him."
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- * Abd Al Jubba Mousa, 53, a headmaster, died on 17 May.
He was seen being beaten with rifle butts as he was led away by British
troops.
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- * Said Shabram died on 24 May. Nothing more is known
about him.
-
- * Hassan Abbad Said, died on 4 August. Nothing more is
known about him.
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- Details of the seven men who died only emerged through
a series of questions tabled by the Plaid Cymru MP Adam Price following
Robert Fisk's report in September. Yesterday Mr Price said: "How can
the Ministry of Defence be surprised about these photographs? These allegations
about the Queen's Lancashire Regiment have been in the public domain for
six months. Clearly there has been disgusting treatment by a small minority
of soldiers.
-
- "But what seems to have happened is that there has
been a cover up by people higher up in the hierarchy of the Army. The deaths
in custody happened over a period of five months, involving different regiments.
The pattern of abuse has been similar ... To say this is an isolated incident
is wrong. Seven people have lost their lives. No one has been charged one
year on."
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- The regiments involved in allegations of abuse include
the Royal Fusiliers and Black Watch, as well as the QLR.
-
- Further evidence of brutality by British troops is included
in a report published by Amnesty International. It said: "Many detainees
have alleged they were tortured and ill-treated by US and UK troops during
interrogation. Methods often reported include prolonged sleep deprivation;
beatings; prolonged restraint in painful positions, sometimes combined
with exposure to loud music; prolonged hooding and exposure to bright lights.
Virtually none of the allegations of torture or ill-treatment has been
adequately investigated."
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- It quotes the case of Abdallah Khudran al-Shamran, a
Saudi Arabian national, who claimed he was threatened with execution by
a British officer while in hospital in Basra where he was recovering from
beatings and electric shocks administered by the Americans.
-
- Yesterday's photographs were not the first to shock the
British public. Eleven months ago photographs showing Iraqi prisoners strung
up in a net from a fork lift truck were published in The Sun. Again the
investigation launched by the Ministry of Defence into the soldiers who
were allegedly involved, including Gary Bartlam, 18, of the Royal Fusiliers,
has not been completed.
-
- A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said this week that
some soldiers were facing charges but the Army Prosecuting Authority had
not yet decided whether or not the charges should be brought. They are
believed to involve indecent and cruel conduct. But the soldiers are still
serving, some in Kosovo.
-
- The MoD has consistently denied that hoods are routinely
used against Iraqi prisoners. But last month the Defence minister Adam
Ingram did admit that, "members of the armed forces may only use blindfolds
on apprehended individuals for reasons of operation security, such as when
there is movement through military-sensitive areas."
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- Little is known about the seven men who died. The MoD
is refusing to release any personal details, such as age or occupation.
Mr Ingram has admitted that even the cause of death is not in the scope
of the RMP inquiries.
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- © 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=517303
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