Start of Baha Mousa mediation

Today sees the start of the mediation regarding the claims by the father of the late Baha Mousa and the other nine men who were allegedly tortured and abused by the British Army in September 2003 in Basra. Leigh Day & Co represent the claimants at the medation, which will be overseen by Lord Woolf, the former Lord Chief Justice. The death of Baha Mousa in particular has been widely seen as being one of the most terrible acts at the hands of members of the British Army if not the worst since the Second World War. The Ministry of Defence has already issued a public apology in the House of Commons for what happened.
 
However, despite it being clear that many soldiers must have been heavily involved in the torture and abuse only one soldier has ever been held responsible. The Government announced a few weeks ago that following the pioneering work of Phil Shiner a public inquiry will be held and Leigh Day & Co will be working with Public Interest Lawyers to represent the Iraqi men at that inquiry. It is hoped that the head of the Inquiry and the terms of reference for it will be announced before the summer recess.
 
The mediation is an attempt to gain agreement on the level of compensation to be awarded to the family of Baha Mousa and the other survivors of this terrible sequence of events. 
 
Col Mousa, Baha's father said today:

' I hope that today seees a turning point in our relations with the British Government. For all of us these last five years have been a nightmare. The torture, abuse and death of my son, was bad enough but then to see  most of those responsible escape justice was very hard to take and I am so glad that there will now be an inquiry into what happened. I hope we can reach agreement with the Ministry of Defence over these next two days as I want to be able to secure the future for my son's children who were so dear to him. However, I must say the fact that it has taken the British Government over a month to even allow me into this country to enable the mediation to go ahead has cast a cloud over this event. To be treated so shoddily after all that has happened has made me very angry. If it was not for my grandchildren I would have packed my bags and returned home already.'
 
For more information please contact Martyn Day or Sapna Malik on 020 7650 1200.