MoD investigates nine more deaths of Iraqi civilians
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Your support makes all the difference.The Ministry of Defence is investigating nine further deaths of Iraqi civilians caused by British soldiers since the end of "major operations" in May - at least four of which occurred in custody, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.
Robert Fisk, our Middle East correspondent, last week revealed the case of Baha Mousa, 26, who died after being arrested by the British army in Basra last September. His family says that he and other detainees - British military and hospital records confirm this - that they were "severely beaten" in custody.
The Ministry of Defence says the incident is being investigated, but the human rights organisation Amnesty International is calling for an independent inquiry. The official investigation is believed to be focusing on the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, although two soldiers arrested over the incident are said to have been cleared of involvement.
A further nine cases of Iraqi civilian deaths are being investigated by the Special Investigations Branch of the Royal Military Police, the military version of the CID. Responding to questions last week from Adam Price, a Plaid Cymru MP, Adam Ingram, the Armed Forces minister, said 17 cases of Iraqi civilian deaths caused by British troops had been referred to the Royal Military Police. Mr Price says questions remain over Radi Nu'ma, who died of a heart attack but had no history of heart trouble. Also being investigated is the death of Abd al-Jabbar Mossa, 53, a headmaster whose family say he was repeatedly hit on the head with a rifle butt and a soldier's helmet as he was taken in for questioning last May.
"In three cases the forces acted within their rules of engagement," Mr Ingram said. "Four were traffic accident cases, and the deaths were the result of tragic accidents. In the case of Radi Nu'ma, it was found that he had died of natural causes in our custody and there was no case to answer. Investigations into the remaining cases continue."
But Mr Price has called for all documentation on the Nu'ma case to be made public now the investigation has finished. He wants an independent investigation into all the cases; at the moment the Army is investigating itself.
He has also attacked the secrecy surrounding the other investigations, and the time they are taking to complete - some have been going on for eight months, whereas the normal length of a military investigation is two months.
"It is scandalous that we are only getting this information through journalists and a tortuous process of putting in parliamentary questions just to get the simplest information," he said. "If the Government has nothing to hide it should put all the information in the public domain."
A spokesman for the MoD said: "People will be questioned to ensure the Geneva Convention is adhered to. We will question locals, PoWs and the chain of command and soldiers at the scene."
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