The Ministry of Defence bowed to pressure yesterday by agreeing to hold a public inquiry into the death of an Iraqi hotel worker in British custody in Basra.

Baha Musa suffered 93 injuries at the hands of British soldiers in September 2003. The 26-year-old receptionist was subjected to 36 hours of beatings and abusive treatment, including being double-hooded with hessian sacks in stifling conditions.

After a five-year campaign by the relatives of Mr Musa, Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, announced that the death is to be investigated at a full public inquiry conducted by a High Court judge.

Only one member of the British Army has ever been convicted of a charge linked to the death of Mr Musa. Corporal Donald Payne, of The Queen’s Lancashire Regiment, pleaded guilty to inhuman treatment of persons protected by the Geneva Conventions and was sentenced at a court martial in April last year to 12 months in prison. He was also dismissed from the Army.

Four other members of the same regiment, including its commanding officer, then Lieutenant-Colonel Jorge Mendonca, were acquitted of offences in relation to the death of Mr Musa, and two members of the Intelligence Corps were also acquitted.

The MoD has been under pressure by lawyers acting for the family of Mr Musa and for eight other Iraqis who were allegedly mistreated at the same time, to hold a public inquiry.

The MoD went to the High Court to resist the move and also disputed a claim by the lawyers that the MoD was guilty of abusing Mr Musa’s human rights under the European Convention. The MoD lost but continued to fight a legal case against the lawyers of the Musa family when they applied for a judicial review into their case for an independent inquiry.

A High Court judge was due to have summoned the lawyers for the MoD yesterday to demand to know how they intended to respond to the call for an inquiry. The case was suspended when the MoD made it clear that an announcement would be made in the Commons accepting the grounds for an independent inquiry.

General Sir Richard Dannatt, the Chief of the General Staff, welcomed the announcement by Mr Browne in the Commons. “I don’t want people to think that we go around beating people up and killing them and sweeping it under the carpet,” he said.

General Dannatt said that it was still possible that some soldiers or officers might face disciplinary punishment if their conduct proved to be below the standard required of them. He did not expect the public inquiry to name any more soldiers who may have been involved in the beatings, he said. The criminal investigation had been completed and a decision had been made that no further prosecutions were justified.

The six soldiers and officers acquitted of the charges in the Baha Musa case, and the former Corporal Payne, could be summonsed to appear at the public inquiry, General Dannatt confirmed. The terms of reference have yet to be decided by the judge, who will be selected soon.

The death of Mr Musa has been the subject of an extensive investigation by the Royal Military Police, followed by the court martial at Bulford Camp in Wiltshire. An internal review was also carried out by Brigadier Robert Aitken, director of Army Personnel Strategy, who concluded that while a minority of soldiers had been guilty of conduct that breached all the values and standards of the Army, he found no evidence of systemic abuse among the units serving in Iraq at that period.

The last time the Army was subjected to a public inquiry of this nature was the Bloody Sunday inquiry into the shooting of 13 Irish civilians during a protest march in Londonderry in 1972.

He was critical that the Army appeared to have forgotten that the five techniques used by the soldiers in the detention of Mr Musa had been banned by a Government edict in 1972.

Mr Browne said: “A public inquiry into the death of Baha Musa is the right thing to do. It will reassure the public that we are leaving no stone unturned in investigating his tragic death. The Army has nothing to hide in this respect and is keen to learn all the lessons it can.”

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