Flown to UK, Iraqis making £280k claim against our troops
TWO Iraqis have been flown to Britain to claim more than a quarter of a million pounds in compensation after they were detained by UK troops.
In the first High Court case of its kind, suspected insurgent Abd AlWaheed is demanding up to £233,000 after he was held for 44 days in 2007.
Documents seen by the Mail reveal his claim includes potential payouts for ‘damage to teeth’ and ‘loss of earnings’.
Kamil Najim Alseran is claiming as much as £46,000 after he was detained for 52 days following his arrest a week after the start of the Iraq War in March 2003.
Mr Al-Waheed, whom soldiers believed to be a bomb maker, became the first claimant to come before an English judge to give evidence in person this week after being flown in from Basra.
On day four of the five-week hearing yesterday, former soldiers were dragged before the judge to describe what happened nearly a decade ago.
A Mail campaign – calling for an end to the witch-hunt against British troops – has revealed how the Ministry of Defence has paid out £22million in compensation so far to Iraqi civilians. But in previous cases the Iraqis did not have to come before a judge.
Instead, their written submissions were filed by lawyers.
The MoD is fighting the latest case amid fears more than 600 similar claims could be lodged.
According to soldiers, they came across Mr Al-Waheed, 53, on a sofa handling a deadly roadside bomb, in a house which contained mortars and plastic explosives. But the three- times married father of eight denied the claims, telling the court he was asleep in bed with his wife.
He alleged that the British soldiers beat him using rifle butts before taking him to Basra airport and torturing him with ‘electric cutters’, used to pinch his flesh during interrogation.
Derek Sweeting QC, for the MoD, accused Mr Al-Waheed of ‘making it up’. The Iraqi is being represented by controversial