Soldiers accused of another fatal beating

By Justin Huggler

Basara, Iraq, Feb. 22 — The family of an Iraqi headmaster who was seen being beaten with a rifle butt by British soldiers before they took him away, was told he had died in custody of a “sudden heart attack”.

But his son, who was also arrested, told the Independent on Feb. 21 that he heard his father screaming as he was beaten, and the family says that the headmaster’s body was bruised and covered in blood.

The last thing Bashar Mousa remembers about his father is the sound of his screams as they were both kicked and beaten by British soldiers, the young man claims. Then suddenly the screaming stopped.

His head covered with a hood, Mousa could not see what had happened. His own beating stopped and he was led away. He never saw his father again, but his family say they found the body of Abdel Jabr Mousa, the headmaster of Al-Fraedh primary school in Basra, bruised and covered with blood in a Basra hospital.

The case of the 53-year-old is one of seven deaths of Iraqi civilians in British custody that the Ministry of Defense has admitted it is investigating, after the Independent on Sunday first revealed the case of Baha Mousa, no relation, who died after being arrested by British soldiers last September.

The other man said to have died of a “sudden heart attack” is Radhi Nea’ma. In his case the MoD says it has completed its investigation, which showed he died of natural causes and there was no case to answer.

The headmaster was arrested on May15 last year. Bashar, 23, said British soldiers came to the family house and told them they were looking for a neighbor who had been an officer in the Iraqi army under Saddam Hussein. While they were searching, they found a Kalashnikov rifle the family ­- like every other Iraqi family facing the lawlessness that has gripped the country since the overthrow of Saddam -­ kept to protect themselves.

But the discovery changed the mood of the soldiers abruptly. “My father tried to explain to them, but they just started hitting him in the head with the wooden butt of the Kalashnikov,” said Mousa. “They dragged him out of the house, bleeding from his leg. Then one of them told me to come with him. He said, ‘Give me the rest of the weapons.’ I told him there were no more.

“Then he took me to another room and started beating me. He put his hands around my throat and pushed me up against a wall. His hands were so tight I lost consciousness ... Then he dragged me to the personnel carrier.”

Mousa alleges he and his father were taken along with a third prisoner, the officer neighbor, to a British army base in the former house of Ali Majid ­ “Chemical Ali,” There they were forced to wear hoods and taken to a room where they were beaten for an hour. After his father abruptly stopped screaming, Mousa said, he was taken to a different room where he was given food and medical attention, and a change of clothes. After one night, he was taken to American-run Camp Bucca in nearby Umm Qasr, where he was held until June 20.

The family allege they knew where the two men had been taken because of a disturbing incident. They said the soldiers were searching for another man, whom they identify as Kareem, and threatened to arrest his wife and daughters unless he gave himself up. The soldiers, they said, left a message that Kareem should surrender to a Sergeant Henderson of the Black Watch at Chemical Ali’s old house.

When Bashar’s brother, Ammar, went there he was taken to a military doctor who told him his father was dead. He said the body was in Basra hospital and gave Ammar a note instructing the hospital to release the body, on which Ammar claims he wrote that the cause of death was a sudden heart attack.

“When I found the body, there was blood in his mouth,” says Ammar. “There were wounds all over him, and a huge blue bruise like a bootprint on his left side.” The death certificate, signed by Dr. Haider Mohammed Saleh, says that the cause of death was “Sudden heart attack: infarction of the heart muscles”.

Although Bashar was a civilian, he was held at Camp Bucca as an enemy prisoner of war. The IoS has seen his prisoner’s wristband and his Red Cross POW papers, number IQZ-120259-01. His release papers say there is no evidence to doubt he is a civilian.

The family demanded an investigation, and several members were interviewed as witnesses. But Ammar, the eldest son, said the investigators told him the family were unlikely to get compensation after he refused to give permission for his father’s body to be exhumed for an autopsy. “I couldn’t put my father through that, so long after he died,” Ammar said.

There are disturbing parallels between the case of Mousa and that of Nea’ma, who died on June 8, 2003. His sister Afaf says that when she found his body in a Basra hospital, “I didn’t recognize him because of the terrible state he was in. His dishdasha was ripped. There was blood on his body and mud in his hair. There was blue bruising on his side like someone had kicked him.” The family were given a death certificate which recorded the cause of death as “sudden heart attack.”

Nea’ma said that on June 8 “around six British armored personnel carriers surrounded our house. They said they had come for my brother, Mohammed, and that they had received information he was buying weapons. We told them he was not here, and that we bought a gun because we were afraid of the Baathists. They weren’t satisfied and they took my father ... They put a bag over his head and put him in their personnel carrier.”

The next day, a British patrol came with a message for the family. Their father had heart problems and had been taken to a hospital. Thinking he was still alive, they searched the wards at all Basra’s hospitals. Despairing, Afaf checked a mortuary at one hospital and found his body.

“Even if Mohammed had done something wrong, why did they take my husband?” asks his widow, Rajieh. Mohammed was subsequently arrested and released for lack of evidence, the family said.

On Feb. 21, the MoD repeated that Nea’ma had died of natural causes. A spokeswoman said she could not comment on Mousa as the investigation is continuing.

Source: Independent (UK)

Schwarzenegger acts to ban California gay marriages

By Rupert Cornwell

Washington, DC, Feb 22— Arnold Schwarzenegger, California’s Governor, has stepped into the national furor over gay marriage, ordering the state’s top legal official to take action to stop the issuance of same-sex marriage licenses in San Francisco, on the grounds it represented “an imminent threat to civil order.”

The Terminator star, who took office last November, made his request to California’s attorney general, Bill Lockyer, after a judge in San Francisco again refused to accede to two lawsuits brought by conservative and religious groups on the grounds that same-sex marriage violated state law. The court ruling did not address the substance of the lawsuits, but merely ordered the two suits to be merged “to avoid duplication.” Even so, it represented another tactical victory for the gay marriage cause, effectively delaying any action by San Francisco’s courts until next month at the earliest, by which time thousands more licenses will have been issued - unless Schwarzenegger secures the state-wide ban he is seeking.

In the nine working days since the directive by Mayor Gavin Newsom allowing same-sex marriage licenses, more than 3,000 have been issued in San Francisco. From all over the US, gay couples have flocked to the city lining up for hours, even days, for an appointment to receive a license.

But the issue is moving beyond the West Coast, attracting supporters in unexpected places, and intruding into national politics as a presidential election looms. On Feb. 19, a county near Albuquerque, New Mexico, gave marriage licenses to 35 same-sex couples. In that case, however, the New Mexico attorney general swiftly intervened, saying the practice violated state law and ordering it to stop.

But there were signs San Francisco’s lead could be followed by other major cities. In perhaps the most startling development, Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago -- not previously regarded as a proponent of cutting-edge social change -- has declared that he would have “no problem” if Chicago’s Cook County issued same-sex licenses in America’s third largest metropolis.

The issue moved center stage earlier this year when the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that nothing short of legal marriage would fulfill the right of homosexuals to “equal protection” under the state’s constitution, thus overturning a state law banning same-sex marriage. But the running is being made in San Francisco.

The latest ruling fits the wider strategy of the gay rights movement, as it tries to frame the controversy in legal terms, portraying same-sex marriage as a constitutional and civil rights question rather than as a political issue, which a majority of Americans do not support. Indeed, a California poll last week found that while 58 percent of people in San Francisco favored gay marriage, only 44 percent did so statewide.

Nationally, opposition is far greater. For that reason, Democratic candidates are treating the issue with extreme care. Well aware that the latest push originated in his home state, Senator John Kerry is reiterating that while he favors civil unions for same-sex couples, he is against marriage.

Even so, Republicans are bound to use the dispute to depict Kerry as a “Massachusetts liberal,” out of touch with the national mood. President Bush has described the notion of gay marriage as “very troubling,” and may soon urge an amendment of the US constitution to outlaw it.

Source: Independent (UK)

GM crops to get go-ahead in UK

By Paul Brown

Feb. 19— The Britishgovernment is to go ahead with genetically modified crops despite what it acknowledges is considerable public resistance, cabinet committee papers passed to the Guardian reveal.

The minutes of the discussion -- which was held eight days ago and involved senior cabinet ministers including the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, and the environment secretary, Margaret Beckett -- disclose the government’s final decision to give the green light to the first crop of GM maize in Britain. An announcement is expected to be made to the House of Commons next week.

The papers make clear the government’s recognition that public opinion in this country is generally resistant to GM crops. “The public was unlikely to be receptive,” the discussion notes.

However, the government is equally clear in its view that any ban on the crops would be “the easy way out” and would be “an irrational way for the government to proceed” in the light of its desire to back and encourage UK science.

The leaked documents also reveal that the government has not yet given up hope of swinging the public round in favor of the crops. “Opposition might eventually be worn down by solid, authoritative scientific argument.”

As part of this drive, the meeting decided that before Parliament was informed of the decision to press ahead with GM maize, supportive MPs would be encouraged to speak out. The papers say: “There was a merit in preparing the ground with key MPs, particularly those with an interest in science or food security in developing countries.”

The government’s chief scientist, David King, the chairman of the Food Standard’s Agency, John Krebs, both in favor of GM, were at the committee meeting and agreed to make statements supporting the government on the day of the announcement. Other pro-GM scientists will be recruited to further forward the message.

In her initial statement to her colleagues, Beckett said there was no scientific case for an outright ban on the cultivation of GM crops.

The first phase of the public debate signaled that above all, the public wanted more information and a strong regulatory regime. Only the subsequent “narrow but deep” element of the debate suggested that the more people knew about GM the more worried they became.

She said people did acknowledge there could be benefits from GM technology in the future for developing countries but “by ignoring calls for a complete ban the government will inevitably be accused of failing to listen to the views of the public.”

Last year, the government attempted to test public attitudes with its national GM debate. It concluded that more than four out of five people were against GM crops and that just 2 percent would eat GM foods.

But a Mori poll for the University of East Anglia released yesterday said the debate vastly overestimated the level of public opposition to GM. The poll found that while 36 percent opposed GM food, 13percent supported it and 39percent had no strong feelings either way.

In a concession to the Welsh view that it wanted no GM crops in Wales Beckett suggested that the government could offer advice on the establishment of voluntary GM free zones.

The government’s suggestion that it may offer a compromise of allowing GM-free zones will also be of interest to the more than 40 regions, including Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and the Lake District national parks authority, which have made moves to declare themselves GM free.

The first crop to be grown will be the Bayer maize which did well in three-year crop trials, being less damaging to the environment than conventional maize doused with powerful herbicides.

Becket conceded the government still had not cleared up how to avoid contamination of non-GM crops.

Sue Meyer, director of Genewatch UK, said: “Overall the government seems determined to go ahead in some form with growing GM crops in the UK, despite a lack of public support, economic advantage or investment in further research. They are clearly anxious that the decision will not be received positively and are having to plan ways of presenting the policy in a favorable light because it does not speak well for itself.”

Defra spokesman William Mach denied the government had made up its mind on GM crops. “There’s going to be no announcement next week. Ministers are still discussing the policy statement and haven’t reached a final decision yet,” he said.

Source: Guardian (UK)