10/23/06. An Iraqi civilian detained by British troops in Iraq told a military court Monday that he was beaten and forced to drink urine by his captors.

Muhanned Thaher Abdullah al-Mansouri said he had been repeatedly beaten and forced to lie face down over an open toilet while detained as a suspected insurgent in Basra in September 2003.

Seven soldiers from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment are standing trial for abusing the Iraqis. One of the detainees, Baha Mousa, 26, died.

"I asked for water so he (a soldier) urinated in a bottle and said 'water water water' and placed it on my mouth," Abdullah said through an interpreter.

"He forced me to drink it. When I spat the urine out of my mouth two of them started hitting me for 20 minutes."

Abdullah said he told an army doctor he was suffering from asthma. The doctor said he would bring oxygen but instead sprayed insect repellent in his face and started laughing, Abdullah said.

Six of the soldiers deny the charges against them. One, Cpl. Donald Payne, 35, admitted the war-crimes charge of treating Iraqi detainees inhumanely, making him Britain's first acknowledged war criminal. He denies two other charges of manslaughter and perverting the course of justice.

The court-martial, which is expected to continue for several more weeks, is being held at a military base in Bulford, England, about 85 miles southwest of London.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press.

 

See video here of a man forced to drink urine