IRAQI prisoners allegedly abused by British soldiers in a holding centre in Basra three years ago were nicknamed after famous footballers and beaten if they could not remember them, a court martial was told yesterday.

The names included those of the Dutch players Marco Van Basten and Ruud Gullit, according to a written statement from Kifah Taha Musa Mutairi, one of those allegedly beaten up by soldiers from The Queen’s Lancashire Regiment. Mr Mutairi’s evidence was given in writing at the court martial of seven soldiers at Bulford Camp in Wiltshire because he died in an unrelated incident when the roof of his house collapsed.

Five members of The Queen’s Lancashire Regiment, including Colonel Jorge Mendonca, former commanding officer of the regiment, and two members of the Intelligence Corps, are on trial on charges connected with the death of Baha Musa, 26, one of 11 Iraqis detained for 36 hours at a British holding centre after being arrested following an arms search at a hotel in Basra.

Mr Mutaira said that if one of the detainees had fallen asleep, he would be woken and asked to repeat his footballer nickname. “If we were not able to recite our respective nickname we would be kicked and beaten. This was mainly done at night,” he wrote.

Mr Musa, who was a receptionist at the hotel where British soldiers found a cache of weapons, including grenades, AK47 rifles and Soviet uniforms, had the most beatings, according to the statement.

“He was constantly crying out with pain during his beatings. I believe that he was beaten more because he cried out in pain. The rest of the group suffered pretty much the same,” Mr Mutairi wrote.

The court martial, which has been running for five weeks, was told that soldiers used to kick and punch the detainees, all of whom were hooded and handcuffed.

Mr Mutairi said that if he failed to maintain the so-called stress position — back straight, knees bent at 45 degrees and arms held out — he was kicked “in the style of a kickboxer, front kicks and spinning kicks.

“When I was being kicked in this manner and on other occasions, too, I thought I was going to be beaten to death, without any mercy whatever.”

Mr Mutairi also described how petrol was rubbed under his nose and water was poured over his head. He was then told in English, as an ignited lighter was held close to his head: “I’m going to burn you.”

Corporal Donald Payne, 35, one of the defendants from The Queen’s Lancashire Regiment (now amalgamated into The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment), has pleaded guilty to inhumane treatment of the detainees under the International Criminal Court Act 2001.

All the other defendants have pleaded not guilty to a variety of charges, including inhumane manslaughter and assault. Colonel Mendonca has pleaded not guilty to a single charge of negligently performing a duty by failing to ensure that the detainees were not ill treated. The hearing was adjourned until Monday.

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