Seven Iraqis die in British custody. How many soldiers are charged? None

This is not the first incident to involve the Queen's Lancashire Regiment and allegations of brutality. Andrew Johnson and Severin Carrell report
02 May 2004


Amid the furore caused by yesterday's publication of photographs showing British troops abusing Iraqi prisoners were claims by the Ministry of Defence and General Sir Michael Jackson, the Chief of the General Staff, that the photographs were of an isolated incident caused by the "ill discipline of a few soldiers".

But it is a year and two days since Ather Karen al-Mowafakia died in British custody in Basra. During the next five months another six men died while in the custody of British soldiers.

And it is four months since the first details of these deaths first emerged in The Independent on Sunday, when our Middle East correspondent, Robert Fisk, gave an account of the death of Baha Mousa, 26, a hotel receptionist. Mr Mousa was allegedly beaten to death in September by members of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment - the same regiment shown abusing prisoners in yesterday's photographs. Kifah Taha, a hotel worker arrested at the same time as Mr Mousa and who suffered acute renal failure after being kicked by soldiers during questioning, said each of the Iraqis was given a nickname: "They called us by the names of footballers and kept telling us to repeat them, so we would remember who we were."

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