Troops 'beat Iraqis over nicknames'

12 April 2012

Suspected Iraqi insurgents held by British forces were given nicknames of famous footballers and beaten if they could not remember them, a court heard.

Iraqi civilian Kifah Taha Musa Mutairi, one of a number detained for questioning in Basra, the country's second city, told how detainees were given names such as Van Basten and Gullit, after two Dutch players.

"If a person had fallen asleep, they would wake them up and ask them for their nickname," he told a court martial at Bulford Camp in Wiltshire.

"If we were not able to recite our respective nickname we would be kicked and beaten. This was mainly done at night."

Mutairi was one of a number of Iraqis arrested at a hotel in Basra where a stash of weapons including grenades and AK47s, Soviet military uniforms and videos of punishment beatings and killings were found.

It is alleged that 11 men were detained for 36 hours, kept hooded, cuffed, deprived of sleep and beaten for failing to maintain stress positions - pre-interrogation "conditioning" methods the prosecution says are banned under international law.

One of the detainees, 26-year-old Baha Mousa, died following the alleged abuse in September 2003.

Seven Queens Light Regiment soldiers are standing trial at Bulford on charges including the manslaughter of Baha Mousa, inhumane treatment and negligently performing a duty.

Mutairi said he believed Baha Mousa, whom he referred to as Baha the hotel receptionist, received the most beatings.

He said: "He was constantly crying out with pain during his beatings. I believe that he was beaten more because he cried out in pain. The rest of the group suffered pretty much the same."

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