[Ppnews] UK Ministry of Defence agrees to compensate Iraqi torture victims

[Political Prisoner News]

UK Ministry of Defence agrees to compensate Iraqi torture victims

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/good-news/uk-ministry-defence-agrees-compensate-iraqi-torture-victims-20080714

<http://www.amnesty.org/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/PUBLIC/Regions/MENA/iraq-bahamousa-204.jpg>
Baha Mousa died on 15 September 2003
<http://www.amnesty.org/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/PUBLIC/Regions/MENA/iraq-bahamousa-204.jpg>
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Baha Mousa died on 15 September 2003

14 July 2008
The family of an Iraqi hotel receptionist who 
died after being tortured over a period of 36 
hours while detained by UK troops in Basra, Iraq, 
will be paid compensation by the UK Ministry of Defence.

Almost £3 million will be paid in recognition of 
the grave human rights violations to which he, 
and others detained at the same time as him, were 
subjected by members of the UK armed forces.

Baha Mousa, a 26-year-old father of two, died in 
September 2003. A post-mortem examination 
revealed 93 separate injuries on his body. A 
number of Iraqis detained at around the same time 
as him were also tortured and ill-treated.

It was announced on Thursday, 10 July, that the 
amount of compensation paid will total £2.83 
million ($5.59 million), to be divided between 
the family of Baha Mousa and nine other men who were detained alongside him.

According to the lawyers who acted for him in the 
compensation claim, Baha Mousa’s father, Colonel 
Daoud Mousa, a former colonel in the Iraqi police 
force, said about the compensation award: “The 
death of my son is with me every day of my life. 
Today’s settlement will ease a little of that 
pain and will go some way to enabling his 
children and my grandchildren to rebuild their lives.”

Amnesty International said that it considers that 
this award of compensation is a necessary, 
although extremely belated, acknowledgement of 
the grave human rights violations to which Baha 
Mousa and those detained alongside him were 
subjected, and a step towards making reparation for those violations.

Amnesty International has been campaigning for 
the UK to hold a genuinely full, independent, 
impartial and thorough investigation into all of 
the circumstances of the torture and death of 
Baha Mousa, and the torture of other Iraqi nationals held alongside him.

In May 2008 the Ministry of Defence finally 
announced that a public inquiry would be held. 
The terms of reference of the inquiry are yet to 
be announced, but it has been confirmed that it 
will be held within the framework of the Inquiries Act 2005.

Amnesty International has long considered that 
any inquiry held under this legislation into an 
allegation of serious human rights violations 
will not be independent enough from the 
government for the inquiry to meet the standards 
required by international human rights law.




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