Request for Andrew Smith to condemn illegal killing
Paul | 06.01.2004 13:13 | Oxford
Andrew Smith MP for Oxford East is still a strong advocate for the war on Iraq. There is very strong evidence that British soldiers beat an Iraqi police man to death. I ask Andrew Smith to condemn this and take up the case to see justice done.
Dear Mr Andrew Smith,
I am sure that you will be as outraged at the article below as I am and ashamed that British soldiers could have beaten a man in custody to death.
As one of your constituents I would appreciate your comments and I request you take up this case in an effort to seek justice.
Yours sincerely,
Paul Greening
OX1 4UP
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/story.jsp?story=477908
'The British said my son would be free soon. Three days later I had his body'
Robert Fisk reports from Basra on the 'death in custody' of the son of an Iraqi police colonel and evidence that he was savagely and deliberately beaten to death by British soldiers
04 January 2004
The last time Lieutenant Colonel Daoud Mousa of the Iraqi police saw his son Baha alive was on 14 September, as British soldiers raided the Basra hotel where the young man worked as a receptionist.
No one hides the fact that most if not all the eight men picked up at the Haitham hotel - where British troops had earlier found four weapons in a safe - were brutally treated while in the custody of the Royal Military Police. One of Baha's colleagues, Kifah Taha, suffered acute renal failure after being kicked in the kidneys; a "wound assessment" by Frimley Park Hospital in Britain states bluntly that he suffered "generalised bruising following repeated incidents of assault".
When Col Mousa and another of his sons, Alaa, visited Kifah Taha in a Basra hospital immediately after his release to seek news of Baha, they found the wounded man - in Alaa's words - "only half a human, with terrible bruises from kicking on his ribs and abdomen. He could hardly speak."
But another of Baha's colleagues - who pleaded with The Independent on Sunday not to reveal his name lest he be rearrested by British forces in Basra - gave a chilling account of the treatment the eight men received once they arrived at a British interrogation centre in Basra. By a terrible coincidence, the building had formerly been the secret service headquarters of Ali Majid, Saddam's brutal cousin, known as "Chemical Ali" for his gassing of the Kurds of Halabja and later military governor of the Basra region.
Amnesty International has demanded an impartial and independent inquiry into Baha's death and the mistreatment of the other Iraqi prisoners, but the Ministry of Defence is attempting to keep its investigation within the Army. Two soldiers originally arrested in connection with Baha's death have since been released - and Baha Mousa's family is outraged. "We are going to sue the British Army in London," his brother Alaa says. "They gave us $3,000 in compensation, then said we could have another $5,000 - but they wouldn't accept responsibility for his murder.
The Mousa family were given an international death certificate by the British Army at the Shaibah military medical centre outside Basra. It was dated 21 September, but again carried an indecipherable signature. It stated that Baha's death had been caused by "cardiorespiratory arrest: asphyxia". But the anonymous British officer who signed the document failed to fill in the column marked "due to/as a consequence of". He also failed to fill in the column marked "approximate interval between onset (of asphyxia) and death". More seriously still, the British Army failed to complete the form's request for "Regt. Corps/RAF Command" and "Ship/Unit/RAF Station".
Robert Harkins, the British political officer in the city, arranged for the Mousa family to meet Brigadier William Moore, commander of British forces in Basra. The family say that Brig Moore, though he expressed his condolences to Daoud Mousa, refused to allow an Iraqi lawyer to participate in the British inquiry. "He told us that since this had happened inside the British Army, the British Army would conduct the investigation," Alaa says.
[ The story in print has more gory details about what happened , Baha’s father believes his son was singled out in ‘the bound and hooded kick boxing session’ because he pointed out to a British officer, that his soldiers were stealing money during their raid of the hotel]
I am sure that you will be as outraged at the article below as I am and ashamed that British soldiers could have beaten a man in custody to death.
As one of your constituents I would appreciate your comments and I request you take up this case in an effort to seek justice.
Yours sincerely,
Paul Greening
OX1 4UP
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/story.jsp?story=477908 'The British said my son would be free soon. Three days later I had his body'
Robert Fisk reports from Basra on the 'death in custody' of the son of an Iraqi police colonel and evidence that he was savagely and deliberately beaten to death by British soldiers
04 January 2004
The last time Lieutenant Colonel Daoud Mousa of the Iraqi police saw his son Baha alive was on 14 September, as British soldiers raided the Basra hotel where the young man worked as a receptionist.
No one hides the fact that most if not all the eight men picked up at the Haitham hotel - where British troops had earlier found four weapons in a safe - were brutally treated while in the custody of the Royal Military Police. One of Baha's colleagues, Kifah Taha, suffered acute renal failure after being kicked in the kidneys; a "wound assessment" by Frimley Park Hospital in Britain states bluntly that he suffered "generalised bruising following repeated incidents of assault".
When Col Mousa and another of his sons, Alaa, visited Kifah Taha in a Basra hospital immediately after his release to seek news of Baha, they found the wounded man - in Alaa's words - "only half a human, with terrible bruises from kicking on his ribs and abdomen. He could hardly speak."
But another of Baha's colleagues - who pleaded with The Independent on Sunday not to reveal his name lest he be rearrested by British forces in Basra - gave a chilling account of the treatment the eight men received once they arrived at a British interrogation centre in Basra. By a terrible coincidence, the building had formerly been the secret service headquarters of Ali Majid, Saddam's brutal cousin, known as "Chemical Ali" for his gassing of the Kurds of Halabja and later military governor of the Basra region.
Amnesty International has demanded an impartial and independent inquiry into Baha's death and the mistreatment of the other Iraqi prisoners, but the Ministry of Defence is attempting to keep its investigation within the Army. Two soldiers originally arrested in connection with Baha's death have since been released - and Baha Mousa's family is outraged. "We are going to sue the British Army in London," his brother Alaa says. "They gave us $3,000 in compensation, then said we could have another $5,000 - but they wouldn't accept responsibility for his murder.
The Mousa family were given an international death certificate by the British Army at the Shaibah military medical centre outside Basra. It was dated 21 September, but again carried an indecipherable signature. It stated that Baha's death had been caused by "cardiorespiratory arrest: asphyxia". But the anonymous British officer who signed the document failed to fill in the column marked "due to/as a consequence of". He also failed to fill in the column marked "approximate interval between onset (of asphyxia) and death". More seriously still, the British Army failed to complete the form's request for "Regt. Corps/RAF Command" and "Ship/Unit/RAF Station".
Robert Harkins, the British political officer in the city, arranged for the Mousa family to meet Brigadier William Moore, commander of British forces in Basra. The family say that Brig Moore, though he expressed his condolences to Daoud Mousa, refused to allow an Iraqi lawyer to participate in the British inquiry. "He told us that since this had happened inside the British Army, the British Army would conduct the investigation," Alaa says.
[ The story in print has more gory details about what happened , Baha’s father believes his son was singled out in ‘the bound and hooded kick boxing session’ because he pointed out to a British officer, that his soldiers were stealing money during their raid of the hotel]
Paul