The Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed on Thursday, July 10, that it had agreed to pay 2.83 million pounds (3.56 million euros, $5.6 million) in compensation to the relatives of Baha Mousa, who died from being beaten while in British detention in Basra in September, 2003, and nine other men who suffered mistreatment by soldiers.
The pay-out was agreed during two days of "intensive negotiations" between the group and the Ministry of Defence in London, said the law firm Leigh Day & Co.
"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, senior partner in the firm.
"The settlement is with an admission of liability by the Ministry of Defence ... for substantive breaches of Article 2 (right to life) and 3 (prohibition of torture) of the European Convention on Human Rights," the MoD said in a statement.
Calls for broader inquiry
The death in detention of Mousa, a 26-year-old hotel receptionist, and the maltreatment of nine other men, cast a dark shadow over the conduct of British forces in southern Iraq soon after the invasion and led lawyers to call for a "broad inquiry into the British Army's detention policy."
The government and the army have apologized for the "disgraceful incident" while stressing that the vast majority of Britain's troops in Iraq had conducted themselves "to the highest standard of
behavior."
Investigations showed that Mousa, a father of two, died from 93 separate injuries, including fractured ribs and a broken nose, after British troops raided the hotel for weapons and accused him of being an insurgent.
Mousa's father, Daoud, who has been leading the fight for compensation, told the High Court in London in 2004 that he was "horrified" by the state of his son's body, which he was asked to identify.
"I burst into tears and I still cannot bear to think about what I saw. Every time I tell this story I break down," he said.
A large part of the compensation is for Mousa's two young sons, who were orphaned as their mother died from cancer shortly before the hotel raid.
A court martial held in Britain last year heard that Mousa and the other men were tied and hooded and repeatedly kicked and assaulted by troops during the raid. Witness Ahmad Taha Musa Al-Matairi told the court martial that the seven soldiers involved in the raid took bets on who would make Mousa fall down.
"They celebrated beating him and a group of other Iraqis like it was Christmas," said the witness at the court martial.
Most implicated soldiers acquitted
The military trial, dismissed by critics as an "inadequate tool" to tackle human rights offences, ended in March 2007 with the acquittal of six of the men.
A seventh, Corporal Donald Payne, who admitted to having treated the Iraqis "inhumanely," was jailed for a year and dismissed from the army. But his seniors in the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, including commanding officer Colonel Jorge Mendonca, were cleared of all charges.
The prosecution alleged that Mendonca, the highest-ranking British soldier ever to face a court martial, had never "questioned the legality" of his men's conduct and allowed them to abuse the Iraqis in direct breach of human rights conventions.
When asked by the prosecution if he had heard screams coming from the building where the alleged abuse took place, Mendonca told the court martial: "I express incredulity at that comment."
The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on Thursday that it has agreed to pay compensation to victims of abuse in Iraq, who were in British custody at the time.

Iraqi civilian Baha Mousa, a 26-year-old hotel receptionist, died in September 2003 at a British base. Mousa and nine other Iraqis were arrested by a patrol of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment and suffered ill-treatment for over 36 hours.

At a British court-martial last year, it was learned that Mousa and the other men were tied and hooded and repeatedly kicked and assaulted by troops.
Basra, Iraq
A witness in the case, Ahmad Taha Musa Al-Matairi, told the court that the seven soldiers involved "celebrated beating him and a group of other Iraqis like it was Christmas."

During the court-martial, Donald Payne plead guilty to a war crime and served a year in prison. The other six soldiers were acquitted.

Leigh Day & Co., the British law firm which represented the Iraqis, said that the MoD has agreed to pay £2.83 million pounds (€3.56 million euros, US$5.6 million) in compensation after "intensive negotiations". The bulk of the settlement is expected to go to the family of Mousa.

A statement released by the MoD reads: "The settlement is with an admission of liability by the Ministry of Defence ... for substantive breaches of Article 2 (right to life) and 3 (prohibition of torture) of the European Convention on Human Rights."

According to the lawyers, Adjutant General Lieutenant General Freddie Viggers told the surviving victims and families: "The British Army apologized for the appalling treatment that you suffered at the hands of the British Army. The appalling behavior of British soldiers made us feel disgusted." 

"I hope this independent inquiry will reassure the public that no stone has been left unturned. The Army and the Ministry of Defence will be giving the fullest co-operation to this inquiry," said UK Secretary of State for Defence Des Browne, at the onset of the inquiry in May 2008.