Britain’s defense ministry will pay £2.83 million (US$5.6 million) to the family of an Iraqi man who died in the custody of British troops and to others who were abused, lawyers said on Thursday.
Baha Mousa, a 26-year-old hotel receptionist, was badly beaten and died after being arrested on suspicion of being an insurgent in Basra, southern Iraq, six months after the US-led invasion in March 2003.
Seven British troops were court martialed over the case last year but all were cleared bar one, Corporal Donald Payne, who admitted inhumane treatment and was jailed for a year.
PHOTO: AP
The £2.83 million payout will be shared with eight other Iraqi men who were mistreated, the law firm Leigh Day, which represented the men, said in a statement.
“Our clients have been through hell over the last few years and this settlement will go some way to enabling our clients to have some semblance of a decent future life,” said Martyn Day, a senior partner at Leigh Day.
Mousa’s father Daoud, however, said the payout would not do much to ease his pain.
“The money will never compensate for the loss of my son,” he told TV broadcaster Channel 4 News.
“It just gives some sort of future for his children,” he said.
In May, British Defence Secretary Des Browne announced a public inquiry into Mousa’s death, describing it as a “terrible incident.”
The Ministry of Defence said on Thursday the settlement was “amicable” and accompanied by an admission of liability that the British troops had committed substantive breaches of the European Convention on Human Rights.
It has also apologized to the Mousa family and the other claimants.
“The claimants’ solicitors said that the settlement represented a fair deal for the claimants,” the ministry said in a statement.
A defense ministry spokeswoman said while most British troops had behaved well in Iraq, procedures and training had been improved to prevent further cases such as Mousa’s death.
“All but a handful of the more than 120,000 British troops who have served in Iraq have conducted themselves to the highest standards of behavior, displaying integrity and selfless commitment,” she said.
“But this does not excuse that during 2003 and 2004 a very small minority there committed acts of abuse and we condemn their actions,” she said.
“The army has done a great deal since these cases to improve procedures and training. But we are not complacent and continue to demand the very highest standards of conduct from all our troops,” she said.
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