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Soldiers 'kicked Iraqi prisoner'
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A former British soldier has admitted for the first time that he saw two of his colleagues kicking and hitting a handcuffed Iraqi prisoner minutes before he died.
Garry Reader told a public inquiry of his belief that Corporal Donald Payne and Private Aaron Cooper caused the death of Baha Mousa.
He described trying in vain to resuscitate Mr Mousa when he found him collapsed shortly after being beaten by the two soldiers in Basra, southern Iraq, in September 2003.
Mr Reader, then a private with the former Queen's Lancashire Regiment, admitted failing to tell the whole truth about what he saw in previous witness statements and in evidence to a court martial. He told the inquiry he feared that speaking out could have damaged his career prospects within the military and led to Cpl Payne making his time in the Army "hell".
"There were a lot of high-ranking people involved in the matter, and due to that fact, those high-ranking people decide obviously where your career goes," he said.
Mr Reader recalled going into the building where Mr Mousa and other Iraqi detainees were being held on Monday September 15 2003. He found Mr Mousa standing near the entrance with his hands tied with plastic handcuffs behind his back, but not wearing a sandbag hood on his head like the other prisoners.
Mr Reader said in a witness statement to the inquiry: "He looked odd because he was not sandbagged and was stood up. He looked dazed and didn't seem to me to be aware of anything around him." Cpl Payne and Pte Cooper then grabbed Mr Mousa and forced him back into a room, he recalled.
Mr Reader went on: "I don't believe he was a threat. I do not even believe he was trying to escape, I just think he was injured and wanted to get help." He continued: "I saw Payne and Cooper kicking and hitting Baha Mousa trying to get him in the room."
After about 10 minutes Mr Reader saw Cpl Payne and Pte Cooper come out of the building and he went back into the room, the inquiry was told. He found Mr Mousa sitting with his head slumped down and shook him but got no response. Noticing that the Iraqi did not appear to be breathing, Mr Reader started giving him artificial resuscitation. He said: "I believe that Corporal Payne and Private Cooper caused the death of Baha Mousa as I have described above." Hotel receptionist Mr Mousa, 26, had suffered 93 separate injuries when he died.
Cpl Payne became the first member of the British Armed Forces to be convicted of a war crime when he pleaded guilty to inhumanely treating civilians at the court martial in September 2006. He was dismissed from the Army and sentenced to one year in a civilian jail. Six other soldiers who faced the court martial were cleared on all counts in March 2007.
