UK troops held torture contests, Iraqi claims

A HOTEL worker who says he witnessed British troops beating his friend to death in Iraq spoke yesterday of being subjected to "torture competitions" at the hands of the army.

Kifah Taha al-Mutari, from Basra, was speaking on the eve of a High Court challenge to the government over allegations surrounding the role of British troops in the deaths of six Iraqis.

Mr Mutari, who flew to Britain for the hearing, said British soldiers arrested him and a fellow hotel worker, Baha Mousa, 26, on suspicion of terrorism. Mr Mousa later died, allegedly after being beaten by soldiers from the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment in September.

Mr Mutari, speaking through an interpreter, said they were tortured for three days.

"They had competitions among themselves to see who could kick and beat us the most. They were enjoying it. We were screaming and crying for help and the higher we screamed the more they liked it," he said.

He said that the soldiers gave them degrading nicknames, such as "pig" or obscene words. "They would ask us our ‘names’ and we would have to answer to our name or we would be beaten more."

The beatings ruptured one of his kidneys and he nearly died, he said. According to a medical report by a consultant, Mr al-Mutari suffered acute kidney failure of "life-threatening proportions" - almost certainly as a result of deliberate injury.

The death of Baha Mousa is one of six test cases due to go before the High Court in London today. In a three-day hearing, lawyers for the families will ask two judges to rule that the Human Rights Act applies to British soldiers occupying Iraq and that independent inquiries should be held.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said all allegations of death and mistreatment at the hands of British forces were investigated by the military. He said the government would argue that human rights legislation did not apply.