Baha Mousa witness tells of abuse by British soldiers
Iraqi claims he was forced to drink urine and had his head pushed down a toilet
October 6, 2009 - An Iraqi detainee said today he was forced to drink the urine of British soldiers and described how his head was pushed down a toilet. The claims were made in a written statement by a witness, identified only as D005, at the public inquiry into the death in British custody of Baha Mousa, a Basra hotel receptionist, in September 2003. "I recall a soldier urinated on me," he said. "I could feel the urine seeping through my hood and running down my arms." He added that a container was then placed on to his mouth. The witness, the son of the then owner of the Ibn al-Haitham hotel in Basra, said in his statement that a British soldier forced his head "into the hole at the base of the toilet where the waste goes. The stench from the toilet was unbearable." The statement was signed in June...
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Baha Mousa witness tells of abuse by British soldiers
Iraqi claims he was forced to drink urine and had his head pushed down a toilet
Richard Norton-Taylor
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Baha Mousa with his wife and two children: the Iraqi hotel receptionist died in British custody in 2003. Photograph: Reuters
October 6, 2009
An Iraqi detainee said today he was forced to drink the urine of British soldiers and described how his head was pushed down a toilet. The claims were made in a written statement by a witness, identified only as D005, at the public inquiry into the death in British custody of Baha Mousa, a Basra hotel receptionist, in September 2003.
"I recall a soldier urinated on me," he said. "I could feel the urine seeping through my hood and running down my arms." He added that a container was then placed on to his mouth.
The witness, the son of the then owner of the Ibn al-Haitham hotel in Basra, said in his statement that a British soldier forced his head "into the hole at the base of the toilet where the waste goes. The stench from the toilet was unbearable." The statement was signed in June.
Questioned at the inquiry, witness D005 said a soldier lowered his head into the toilet and asked him to look into the hole for more than an hour.
He said hot water from a generator was splashed over his body, and at one point he was told to crouch with his arms out, and one of the soldiers put a bottle of water on his hands, ordering "that the water shouldn't move at all. This was something impossible. Any person wouldn't be able to do that. And if I did not carry out what I was told, then he would bring another bottle and that's also impossible to do."
Asked if he was urinated on by soldiers, he replied: "Yes".
He was not asked about all of the claims made in his written statement, parts of which appeared to differ from his oral evidence. Some written witness statements for the inquiry have also differed from statements the detainees made to the military police when Mousa's death and the ill-treatment of nine other detainees became known. Witnesses have said they felt intimidated by the British military.
The inquiry continues.
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:: Article nr. 58633 sent on 07-oct-2009 00:16 ECT
www.uruknet.info?p=58633
Link: www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/06/baha-mousa-witness-abuse-soldiers
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