Iraqi prisoners held by British troops at a detention centre in Basra were forced to dance “like Michael Jackson” during 36 hours of alleged beatings and sleep-deprivation, according to a High Court writ against the Ministry of Defence.

Nine Iraqi civilians were victims of a competition between several British soldiers to see who could kick the prisoners the hardest, it is also claimed.

Baha Musa, one of the nine detainees, died later and was found to have 93 separate injuries.

Permission for details of the writ, first served in June, to be made public was given by the High Court yesterday.

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Seven Iraqis and the families of two men who died, Mr Musa and Kifah al-Mutari, who died subsequently from an unrelated accident, are suing the MoD for damages over their treatment at a detention centre in Basra, southern Iraq, in September 2003.

Five members of The Queen’s Lancashire Regiment, including Colonel Jorge Mendonca, the former commanding officer, and two from the Intelligence Corps, were charged in connection with the death of Mr Musa, a hotel receptionist. He was arrested with other Iraqis, during an arms search by a British platoon.

All were acquitted at a court martial in February except for Corporal Donald Payne of The Queen’s Lancashire Regiment. He pleaded guilty to the war crime of inhuman treatment of Iraqi prisoners and was sentenced to 12 months in prison and dismissed from the Army.

According to the writ, Mr al-Mutari was forced to wear two hessian hoods over his head and was punched and kicked.

His legal team says he was the victim of multiple brutal assaults and battering by soldiers and every deliberate infliction of pain and injury was unlawful. The beatings violated his right not to be subjected to torture or inhuman and degrading treatment, the writ says.

This included the use of hooding, stressing (forcing the prisoners to stand up with knees bent and arms outstretched for long periods), sleep deprivation, constantly tying up his hands, persistent shouting and lack of food and water.

Hooding, stressing and sleep deprivation were banned under an order made by the Government of Edward Heath in 1972 after the exposure of the treatment of suspected Irish terrorists. Inhuman treatment of prisoners is also a breach of the Geneva Convention.

Doctors who examined Mr al-Mutari found multiple injuries to his body, it is claimed. He was taken by helicopter to the British military hospital at Shaibah, south of Basra, where a consultant discovered he had renal failure. The writ says he was critically ill. Mr al-Mutari recovered after treatment and was released from detention in November 2003. He died the following February when the roof of his house collapsed on him. Ahmad Mosah, his brother, is seeking aggravated damages for the alleged beatings.

Mr Musa’s father, Colonel Dawood al-Maliki, who is suing for damages over his son’s death, and the seven other Iraqis held at the Basra detention centre are all alleging the soldiers spent 36 hours abusing the prisoners.

The writ against the MoD was issued by Leigh Day & Co Solicitors of London.

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