Father of Iraqi man killed in British custody says son may have been killed in revenge attack

Father: Iraqi perhaps slain in UK revenge attack

LONDON — British soldiers laughed as they beat an Iraqi hotel receptionist to death, the man’s father alleged Wednesday as he gave evidence to an inquiry into the slaying.

Baha Mousa, 26, died in the custody of British troops after they went through a hotel in southern Iraqi city of Basra in September 2003 in a hunt for Saddam Hussein loyalists.

His father Daoud Mousa, 63, told the London hearing that detainees held with his son had described to him in detail “how violently, how cruelly,” they had been treated by British soldiers. He said they described the soldiers laughing as they beat his son.

“My son was tortured to death in front of his colleagues,” Mousa, a former senior police officer, told the inquiry in a written statement.

“It is clear that the soldiers responsible gained sadistic pleasure by laughing continually while my son was being abused,” the statement said.

Other witnesses have also told the inquiry that some soldiers appeared to delight in abusing the civilians, forcing one to dance like Michael Jackson and coordinating the screams of others in an attempt to create a form of music.

A videotape played to the inquiry showed one of the soldiers, Cpl. Donald Payne, screaming absue at hooded prisoners.

Mousa gave emotional testimony to the hearing Wednesday, weeping repeatedly as he described the impact on his family of his son’s death. He said he suffers flashbacks to witnessing his son’s gruesome injuries in a military morgue.

The British government ordered a rare public inquiry into the killing, asking retired Court of Appeal Judge William Gage to investigate the circumstances of Mousa’s death and to make recommendations for possible changes to military detention techniques.

Mousa told the hearing that he had accused a British soldier of stealing bank notes during the hotel raid and that his son was targeted by troops in revenge.

Lawyers have told the inquiry that the detainee suffered more than 90 injuries during 36 hours in custody, including a broken nose and fractured ribs.

Mousa’s death has already led to the conviction of Payne as Britain’s first war criminal. He was dismissed by the army and sentenced to a year in prison for inhuman treatment in 2007.

Britain’s defense ministry has previously apologized for the mistreatment of Mousa and nine other Iraqi men, awarding them a shared 3 million pound ($4.9 million) settlement.

Asked by Payne’s lawyer Michael Topolski to accept an apology from the ex-soldier, an emotional Mousa refused. “I will not accept the apology of a criminal,” he told the hearing.

Mousa said that on the night of the hotel raid he arrived to collect his son from work, only to see military vehicles surrounding the building and staff lying face down on the ground — including Baha.

He said he saw a British soldier stuff bank notes from a hotel safe into his pocket and passed on his concerns to the man’s superior — whom he identified only as “Lieutenant Mike.”

Mousa said he pointed his son out to the soldiers, hoping troops would release him in return for bringing the alleged theft to their attention. “I think they knew the one I was pointing to was my son, therefore they wanted revenge against me on him,” Mousa said.

Outside the hearing, Mousa said he believed “without the slightest doubt” that his son was attacked in retribution.

Lawyers representing the Mousa family have urged the inquiry to consider whether military officials sanctioned soldiers in Iraq to use interrogation techniques banned by Britain in 1972, amid controversy over the use of the methods in Northern Ireland.

Detainees claim they were hooded, deprived of sleep and food, forced to adopt stress positions and subjected to white noise.