93 Wounds Later He Was dead

Arrested with 28 others but never charged with a crime, 36 hours later he was dead. The methods used against him by British forces in Iraq were outlawed in 1972 after these same techniques were used in Northern Ireland.

'I had my knee in his back. To control him': theatre tackles the Baha Mousa inquiry. Credit: Alex Healey and Lindsay Poulton Link to this video
British soldiers inflicted "violent and cowardly" assaults on Iraqi civilians, subjecting them to "gratuitous" kickings and beatings, an inquiry into the death of the detainee Baha Mousa has found.

In a devastating indictment of military culture, the retired appeal court judge Sir William Gage ruled that there was widespread ignorance of what was permitted in handling prisoners of war.

The events that led to the death of Mousa were "deplorable, shocking and shameful", the defence secretary, Liam Fox, told the Commons.

Although Gage did not suggest there had been a policy of systematic abuse towards Iraqi suspects, he deplored the absence of any "proper MoD doctrine on interrogation".

The Death of Baha Mousa

Baha Mousa was a 26-year-old Iraqi hotel receptionist who was kicked and beaten to death whilst in British Army custody in Basra in September 2003. The inquiry into his death heard that Mousa was hooded for almost 24 hours during his 36 hours custody of 1st Battalion the Queen's Lancashire Regiment and that he suffered at least 93 injuries prior his death

On 14 September 2003 Mousa, a 26-year-old hotel receptionist, was arrested along with six other men and taken to a British base. Whilst in detention it is claimed that Mousa and the other captives were hooded and severely assaulted by a number of British troops. Two days later Mousa was found dead.[4] A post-mortem examination found that Mousa suffered multiple injuries (at least ninety-three), including fractured ribs and a broken nose, which were "in part" the cause of his death.[5]