Inquiry to be held into Iraqi’s death in detention

LAWYERS for relatives of an Iraqi civilian who died in custody claimed victory yesterday after the British government pledged to hold an independent inquiry into the incident.

Solicitor Phil Shiner insisted the investigation into the death of Iraqi Baha Mousa should have a broad remit to examine other alleged cases of manslaughter and torture by British troops.

Mousa, 26, a hotel receptionist, died after being detained under suspicion of being an insurgent.

The final scope of the inquiry is yet to be determined. But it may lead to an embarrassing and damaging analysis of how interrogation techniques supposedly banned in 1972 — hooding, stressing, food and water deprivation, sleep deprivation and noise — came to be used by British troops in Iraq in 2003.

However, because it is confined to Mousa’s death the inquiry may not be able to look at other alleged incidents.