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<h1><b>UK Ministry of Defence agrees to compensate Iraqi torture
victims</b></h1><font size=1>
<a href="http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/good-news/uk-ministry-defence-agrees-compensate-iraqi-torture-victims-20080714" eudora="autourl">
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/good-news/uk-ministry-defence-agrees-compensate-iraqi-torture-victims-20080714<br>
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<a href="http://www.amnesty.org/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/PUBLIC/Regions/MENA/iraq-bahamousa-204.jpg">
<img src="http://www.amnesty.org/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/imagecache/story/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/PUBLIC/Regions/MENA/iraq-bahamousa-204.jpg" width=204 height=145 alt="Baha Mousa died on 15 September 2003">
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<a href="http://www.amnesty.org/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/PUBLIC/Regions/MENA/iraq-bahamousa-204.jpg">
<img src="http://www.amnesty.org/sites/amnesty.org/themes/aitheme/images/icon_enlarge.gif" width=14 height=14 alt="[]">
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Baha Mousa died on 15 September 2003<br><br>
14 July 2008 <br>
The family of an Iraqi hotel receptionist who died after being tortured
over a period of 36 hours while detained by UK troops in Basra, Iraq,
will be paid compensation by the UK Ministry of Defence. <br><br>
Almost £3 million will be paid in recognition of the grave human rights
violations to which he, and others detained at the same time as him, were
subjected by members of the UK armed forces.<br><br>
Baha Mousa, a 26-year-old father of two, died in September 2003. A
post-mortem examination revealed 93 separate injuries on his body. A
number of Iraqis detained at around the same time as him were also
tortured and ill-treated.<br><br>
It was announced on Thursday, 10 July, that the amount of compensation
paid will total £2.83 million ($5.59 million), to be divided between the
family of Baha Mousa and nine other men who were detained alongside
him.<br><br>
According to the lawyers who acted for him in the compensation claim,
Baha Mousa’s father, Colonel Daoud Mousa, a former colonel in the Iraqi
police force, said about the compensation award: “The death of my son is
with me every day of my life. Today’s settlement will ease a little of
that pain and will go some way to enabling his children and my
grandchildren to rebuild their lives.”<br><br>
Amnesty International said that it considers that this award of
compensation is a necessary, although extremely belated, acknowledgement
of the grave human rights violations to which Baha Mousa and those
detained alongside him were subjected, and a step towards making
reparation for those violations. <br><br>
Amnesty International has been campaigning for the UK to hold a genuinely
full, independent, impartial and thorough investigation into all of the
circumstances of the torture and death of Baha Mousa, and the torture of
other Iraqi nationals held alongside him. <br><br>
In May 2008 the Ministry of Defence finally announced that a public
inquiry would be held. The terms of reference of the inquiry are yet to
be announced, but it has been confirmed that it will be held within the
framework of the Inquiries Act 2005. <br><br>
Amnesty International has long considered that any inquiry held under
this legislation into an allegation of serious human rights violations
will not be independent enough from the government for the inquiry to
meet the standards required by international human rights law. <br><br>
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