Our Brave Boys? Or Murdering Thugs?
I am frankly appalled by this report in the Sunday Times today. If true, those who perpetrated the crime should be shot:
Regimental commander in probe over death of Iraqi detainee
Reorted by Michael Smith
The commander of a British unit that fought in Iraq is among a number of officers under investigation following the death of an Iraqi prisoner. The man died while in the custody of the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment (QLR) in southern Iraq in 2003.
The Ministry of Defence said last night that an investigation into the running of the chain of command of the QLR, then led by Lieutenant- Colonel Jorge Mendonca, had been passed to the Army Prosecuting Authority. The authority will decide if any officers should be charged in connection with the death. It is not clear if Mendonca will face prosecution.
The dead man, Baha Mousa, a 26-year-old hotel employee, was one of nine men arrested by the QLR in a hotel in Basra on September 13, 2003. An International Committee of the Red Cross report said the men were “made to kneel, face and hands against the ground, as if in a prayer position. The soldiers stamped on the back of the neck of those raising their head.
“The suspects were taken to Al-Hakimiya, a former office used by the Mukhabarat (the Iraqi secret police) in Basra and then beaten severely by coalition forces personnel.”
Mousa, who was married with two children, died following this, the report said. “Prior to his death, his co-arrestees heard him screaming and asking for assistance.”
Mousa’s death certificate said the cause of death was “cardio-respiratory arrest-asphyxia”, but it added that an eyewitness description of the body spoke of “broken ribs and skin lesions on the face consistent with beatings”.
At least one member of the QLR has told the Royal Military Police Special Investigation Branch (SIB) that junior officers were aware of ill-treatment of prisoners but unable to do anything about it.
A number of rank and file soldiers involved in the detention of Mousa are expected to be charged with various offences relating to his death.
Sources close to the regiment said Mendonca, who was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his time in Iraq, had brought the incidents to the notice of the authorities in the first place.
“He has done as much as anyone could,” one said. “He is a very good man and seen as a high-flyer. The minute he heard about the death of the prisoner, he called the SIB.”