UK:THE UK ministry of defence is facing fresh court action over as many as 11 cases of alleged abuse of Iraqis, including alleged sexual humiliation of a teenage boy by British soldiers at a base near Basra in 2003, it emerged yesterday.
One allegation is that a boy of 14 was forced to carry out oral sex on another male detainee at Camp Breadbasket, a British-run camp near Basra. He has been identified only as Hassan.
Now aged 19, Hassan told of being beaten, stripped and forced to engage in oral sex with a friend. He claimed he fled Basra in shame and cannot ever see his friend again. While events at Breadbasket have been investigated by military police, the claim made by Hassan is a new one and has prompted a fresh inquiry.
Lawyers acting for Hassan said that in a further 10 cases Iraqis suffered "severe beatings".
The 10 other Iraqis named in the Breadbasket case are Khadim Elaiby Jabbara, Aqeel Jassim Mohammad, Muthana Jassim Mohammad, Raa'id Attyar Ali, Bassim Kadhim Abdul-Hussain, Hassan Khadhim Abdul-Hussain, Khalid Jassim Samari, Radhi Ma'an Radhi, Riyadh Hassam Abdul-Hussain and Qasim Resan Khalaf. None of them had been interviewed by the military police, their lawyers said yesterday.
The lawyer Phil Shiner has demanded that the incidents at Breadbasket in May 2003 be included in the public inquiry into the death of Baha Mousa. Last week, Mousa's family and 10 other Iraqis were offered compensation totalling nearly £3 million (€3.74 million) after an incident in Basra in September 2003 when Mousa died in British custody and nine others were abused in a British detention centre in Basra.
A court martial accused soldiers from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment of erecting a "wall of silence". Six soldiers, including Col Jorge Mendonca, the commanding officer, were acquitted of negligence and abuse. A corporal admitted inhumane treatment. No one was convicted of killing Mousa. - ( Guardian service)