LONDON — British soldiers laughed as they beat an Iraqi hotel receptionist to death, the man's father said Wednesday as he gave evidence to an inquiry into the slaying.
Baha Mousa, 26, died in the custody of British troops after they went through a hotel in the southern Iraqi city of Basra in September 2003 in a hunt for Saddam Hussein loyalists.
His father Daoud Mousa, 63, told the London hearing that detainees held with his son had described to him in detail "how violently, how cruelly," they had been treated by British soldiers. He said they described the soldiers laughing as they beat his son.
"My son was tortured to death in front of his colleagues," Mousa, a former senior police officer, told the inquiry in a written statement.
A video played to the inquiry showed one of the soldiers, Cpl. Donald Payne, screaming abuse at hooded prisoners.
The British government ordered a rare public inquiry into the killing, asking retired Court of Appeal Judge William Gage to investigate Mousa's death and to make recommendations for changes to detention techniques.
Mousa's death has already led to the conviction of Payneas Britain's first war criminal. He was dismissed by the army and was sentenced to a year in prison for inhumane treatment in 2007.
Britain's Defense Ministry apologized for the mistreatment of Mousa and nine other Iraqis, awarding them a shared $4.9 million settlement.
Front Section, Pages 4 on 09/24/2009