UNITED KINGDOM/FILE: Elderly Iraqi father describes seeing signs of torture on his son's body as he testifies at a London public inquiry into allegations of atrocities by British troops in 2004

Record ID: 334761

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM/FILE: Elderly Iraqi father describes seeing signs of torture on his son's body as he testifies at a London public inquiry into allegations of atrocities by British troops in 2004
  • Date: 18th March 2013
  • Summary: BASRA, IRAQ (FILE - SEPTEMBER 22, 2003) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) FUNERAL PROCESSION FOR BAHA MOUSA MEN WAILING BY COFFIN COFFIN ON TOP OF CAR BASRA, IRAQ (FILE) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) BRITISH SOLDIER STANDING BY MILITARY VEHICLE BRITISH SOLDIER WALKING, WITH IRAQI WOMAN AND CHILDREN IN FOREGROUND BRITISH SOLDIER BY MILITARY VEHICLE TAKING POSITIONS ON STREET BASRA, IRAQ (FILE) (REUTERS) BRITISH SOLDIERS NEAR MILITARY HELICOPTER TWO SOLDIERS STANDING / HELICOPTER IN BACKGROUND BASRA, IRAQ (FILE) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) BRITISH SOLDIERS ON JEEP BRITISH TROOPS ON PATROL MORE OF BRITISH TROOPS WALKING ON PATROL BRITISH SOLDIER INSIDE MILITARY VEHICLE / VIEW FROM INSIDE VEHICLE TO SEE MORE BRITISH SOLDIERS ON STREET BRITISH SOLDIERS AND TANKS SEEN IN SILHOUETTE AT DUSK
  • Embargoed: 2nd April 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Crime,Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA35HN4NQXUXFWYR7R2MEBJNZVH
  • Story Text: An elderly Iraqi father described seeing signs of torture on his son's body as he testified on Monday (March 18) at a London public inquiry into allegations of atrocities by British troops in 2004.
    Mizal Karim Al Sweady was the first of 60 Iraqi witnesses who will give evidence to the Al Sweady inquiry into the disputed circumstances of 28 deaths during or after a battle at the Danny Boy checkpoint in southern Iraq.
    The inquiry is named after Al Sweady's son Hamid, 19, one of a group of Iraqi men allegedly captured alive and killed in detention. The military denies the allegations.
    Dressed in a black-and-white keffiyeh and long brown robe over a grey suit, the elderly father-of-17 arrived carrying a framed photograph of Hamid alive.
    Before he began answering questions, he carried the photo to the inquiry chairman, retired judge Thayne Forbes, and the two men shook hands.
    Moments later, as part of his evidence, Al Sweady was shown a gruesome photograph of Hamid's corpse and asked to describe injuries he says he saw on his body shortly after his death.
    Speaking through an interpreter, Al Sweady said he had cleaned his son's body before burial and had seen wire marks around his neck, bruises on his chest, a broken jaw, a bullet wound in the neck and one in the leg.
    It is the second major British public inquiry into military conduct in Iraq. The costly and long-running inquiries have helped keep alive a public debate about why Britain got involved in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and how the war was conducted.
    Iraqi witnesses allege British soldiers captured a number of men during the battle at Danny Boy, about 5 km (3 miles) from the town of Majar al-Kabir, and took them to Camp Abu Naji base where some were murdered and mutilated and others tortured.
    "There is a lot of suspicion in the area that deaths and mutilations did occur in that army camp and there are admitted allegations of mistreatment. The difficulty, so far as the inquiry is concerned is its terms of reference don't allow it to examine deaths on the battlefield," said John Dickinson from Public Interest Lawyers which is representing the Iraqi witnesses.
    The hearings, expected to last about a year, will involve flying 15 Iraqi witnesses to London and another 45 to Beirut where they will give evidence by video-link from the British embassy. Some 200 British military witnesses will also testify.
    Dickinson said it was "shameful" that it has taken this long for the Iraqis to find out what happened to the victims.
    "It is the families who really want to know what happened, because they have had nine years of not knowing what happened to their sons and brothers."
    During Monday's hearing, Al Sweady was asked by a lawyer for the military whether his son Hamid was a supporter of anti-U.S. cleric Moqtada al-Sadr or a member of his Mehdi Army militia. He said no to both.
    The elderly father's evidence about the events of May 14-15, 2004, was challenged by several lawyers who noted discrepancies between three witness statements he gave in 2004 and 2010.
    He was asked to elaborate on his account of seeing several bodies with eyes plucked out and tongues and noses cut off at the hospital where he collected his son's body.
    Pressed to be specific, he told the inquiry he had seen one body with a broken-up nose and one with eyes plucked out.
    Al Sweady denied changing his account over time, suggesting that his statements had not been written down correctly by British military police who had investigated the episode.
    The Al Sweady inquiry, ordered by the British government in 2009, has already cost 16 million pounds ($24 million) in its pre-hearings phase.
    An earlier inquiry into the death of hotel receptionist Baha Mousa in British custody in Basra in 2003, reported in 2011 that he had died after suffering "an appalling episode of serious gratuitous violence" at the hands of British troops.
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