Baha Mousa death: army doctor 'ignored cries of tortured men'

Baha Mousa death: army doctor 'ignored cries of tortured men'

Dr Derek Keilloh faces allegations he helped cover up the mistreatment of Iraqi detainees. Photograph: Dave Thompson/PA

A British army doctor present at the death of hotel worker Baha Mousawas a criminal who ignored the cries of men who were being tortured, a tribunal has heard.

Dr Derek Keilloh is appearing before the medical practitioners tribunal service in Manchester, the judicial arm of the General Medical Council, accused of a cover-up over the death of Mousa, who was beaten to death by British soldiers in September 2003.

Keilloh claimed he only saw dried blood around the nose of the hotel receptionist, who had 93 separate injuries after being detained by soldiers from the 1st Battalion Queen's Lancashire Regiment.

On Wednesday, the tribunal heard from Ahmed al-Matairi, who waived his legal right to anonymity. Speaking through an interpreter, he described how he and staff from the Basra hotel he co-owned – including Baha Mousa – were detained and tortured by British soldiers.

Matairi said he was taken to see Keilloh after he had undergone days of beatings by soldiers who would kick him in the kidneys, legs and in the location of a hernia. He was in a "bad state" and "between life and death" when he was finally taken to the medical centre.

Naked from the waist down, he was handcuffed when Keilloh examined him, he said. He claimed the doctor warned soldiers not to hit him any more or he could die. "He just had a look at my hernia, leg, kidney and said to them don't hit me. He is a criminal. He should not be a doctor." He said the doctor's medical centre was near where the detainees were being tortured.

Matairi added: "He heard our cries and he didn't do anything. And he was not far from us for three days and he didn't do anything … He should have fulfilled his role as a doctor."

Mousa, 26, was hooded, handcuffed and beaten before he died, 36 hours after first being taken to the detention centre in Basra. His injuries included fractured ribs and a broken nose.

Keilloh, 37, who is from Aberdeen, supervised a failed resuscitation attempt of Mousa.

The tribunal has heard that a fellow medic, a corporal, remarked "Look at the state of him!" after Mousa was taken to the medical centre, but Keilloh – at the time a captain and battalion regimental medical officer – always maintained he did not see the catalogue of injuries.

Matairi said he had been suffering from kidney stones and a small hernia before he was detained but that the soldiers would "aim" kicks at his kidneys if they wanted him to fall to his knees. He said after days oftorture his hernia had swollen to five or six inches and his leg, below the knee, had also swollen up.

Matairi said despite his condition the doctor gave him no medication. "He didn't give me anything," he said.

When the doctor finished the examination he was taken back to the room where the other detainees were being kept and tortured, the tribunal heard. Describing his state before he went to see the doctor, he said: "I was finished. I was between life and death."

The hotel owner also described hearing Baha Mousa's final words. He said he was being kept in the room next door and was being tortured. He heard him say: "I am innocent. I am not a Baathist. My wife died six months ago. My children are going to become orphans. I am going to die."

Asked by Rebecca Poulet QC, counsel for the GMC, what his last words were, he responded: "Blood blood, I am going to die. My children are going to become orphans."

Matairi also described how soldiers aimed "karate kicks" at the prisoners and how they would laugh at them. He said the soldiers were trying to "degrade" and "humiliate" them.

The tribunal, which is expected to last for four weeks, continues.