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Iraqis sue U.K. over assaults

London: Harrowing accounts of the treatment of Iraqis by British troops in an incident in which a detenu died will be handed to the High Court in London on Friday as their lawyers demand aggravated and exemplary damages from the U.K. Ministry of Defence (MoD).

They say 10 Iraqis seized in a Basra hotel in September 2003 were tortured. Baha Mousa, the receptionist at the al-Haitham, suffered 93 injuries and died in British custody. The lawyers claim the soldiers’ actions were in breach of the Geneva Convention and the Human Rights Act.

The incident led to a court martial in which the MoD admitted the Iraqis were violently treated.

One soldier, Corporal Donald Payne, pleaded guilty to inhuman treatment, but six others were acquitted of negligence and abuse. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2007

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