Iraqi civilians defeated in legal battle for abuse inquiry

Tue, 21 Dec 2010

London - More than 200 Iraqi civilians Tuesday lost their legal battle for a public inquiry into claims that they were mistreated by British forces during the Iraq conflict.

Two judges at the High Court in London upheld a refusal by Defense Secretary Liam Fox to hold a wide-ranging investigation into the claims.

The Ministry of Defense (MoD) argued that a public inquiry would be costly and neither "necessary or appropriate" as it had already set up an inquiry team to look into claims of abuse by soldiers.

But the Iraqis, represented by top British human rights lawyers, claim they were abused between 2003 and 2008 in British-run detention facilities in southern Iraq.

The lead claimant in the case, Ali Zaki Mousa, alleged he suffered months of beatings and other abuse in the custody of British soldiers in 2006 and 2007.

In an interview with the BBC in 2006, he alleged that he had been blindfolded and beaten by British troops after being arrested in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on suspicion of being affiliated with militias.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/359137,legal-battle-abuse-inquiry.html.