British admit Iraq abuse

The British military admitted Thursday that some of its troops violated the human rights of nine detained Iraqi men, one of whom died in custody.

The nine suspected insurgents were held in stress positions and deprived of sleep for about two days in extreme heat at a British army barracks near the southern Iraqi city of Basra in September 2003, prosecutors said during the courts-martial that stemmed from the abuse.

Baha Mousa, a 26-year-old hotel receptionist, suffocated after soldiers restrained him following an escape attempt.

Cpl. Donald Payne, 35, pleaded guilty to inhumane treatment in that case, making him the first British soldier convicted of a war crime under international law.

In a statement that apologized for the abuses, Armed Forces Minister Bob Ainsworth said nearly all of the 120,000 British soldiers who have served in Iraq behaved properly.

“But this does not excuse that during 2003 and 2004 a very small minority committed acts of abuse, and we condemn their actions,” Ainsworth said.

Britain’s highest appeals court, the Law Lords, ruled in June that prisoners held by British troops were protected by European human rights law.

In Mousa’s case, the Defense Ministry acknowledged “a substantive breach” of a provision in the European Convention on Human Rights that recognizes the right to life and another that prohibits torture. It said the torture ban was violated in the cases of the eight other detainees.

The ministry said it expected to negotiate compensation with the survivors of Mousa and with the other detainees.