'I was beaten for three days by British soldiers'

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Mr Talah said he was among seven men taken to an interrogation centre where they were tortured and humiliated by up to eight soldiers at a time.

In a witness statement to be presented to the High Court in London next week as part of a compensation claim, he said: "When we entered the base, the soldiers accompanying us shouted 'terrorists, terrorists!'. The soldiers appeared to be thoroughly enjoying themselves as the beating was accompanied by loud laughter."

The engineer, who claims his injuries were so severe that he suffered renal failure, said he and six other detainees were made to hold out their arms horizontally and were beaten when they failed to do so for more than a few minutes. He added: "One terrible game played involved kick-boxing. The soldiers would surround us and compete as to who could kick-box one of us furthest. The idea was to try and make us crash into the wall."

The statement, part of an action being brought on behalf of the families of 13 Iraqis allegedly killed by British troops, describes how the men were covered with hoods, had freezing water poured over them and given inedible spicy food.

Mr Talah, first interviewed by The Independent on Sunday, claims each of the detainees was given the name of a famous footballer, such as Marco Van Basten or Ruud Gullit, and they were beaten if they failed to remember it. One soldier allegedly told them to "dance like Michael Jackson". Basa Mousa, 26, a hotel receptionist, died of his injuries.






Independent