Don't write off our investigation into Baha Mousa's death just yet | Andrew Warwick

Our work has really only just begun. It is cynical to claim that evidence for a trial is there already

Andrew Williams criticises the investigation into the death of Baha Mousa in Iraq in 2003. There is no question that this death was a tragedy and a shameful incident in the history of the Iraq war. Together with allegations of other abuses, this is being investigated by the Iraq Historic Allegations Team.

Williams says Ihat was “set up by the Ministry of Defence and manned by members of the armed forces”. In fact, I am not a member of the armed forces and most of my investigators are former Home Office civilian police officers. It is true that we are supported by a very small number of colleagues from the Royal Navy Police; they are embedded into the investigative teams and provide the necessary statutory police powers. However, the high court ruled earlier this year that Ihat is sufficiently independent of the military chain of command to conduct its investigative work.

Williams criticises the fact that we have identified a number of lines of inquiry and assigned a dedicated team of investigators. “Given that all those responsible for the killing of Baha Mousa and the violence done to his fellow detainees were exposed by both the Baha Mousa inquiry and my book many months ago, this declaration feels very hollow,” he says. I have read Williams’s book and, while it is well researched and informative, it does not constitute evidence which could be put before a criminal court. Similarly, though the report of William Gage – who led the inquiry – is thorough and the result of a concerted effort to get answers to the questions surrounding Baha Mousa’s death, it was never intended to be a vehicle for obtaining prosecutions. Therefore it is cynical and misleading to state: “Despite a litany of wrongdoing identified in the Mousa public inquiry … no one has been brought to trial.”

Williams compares our work with the Stephen Lawrence investigation: “Whereas some lessons have been learned from the Lawrence affair and some justice has been seen to be done … there are few such gains in the Mousa case.” Ihat is doing a difficult job in testing circumstances. There have been a series of delays as legal challenges have been dealt with and changes made to the remit and focus of our investigations. It is worth noting that changes in the law relating to the double jeopardy rule (which allowed the Stephen Lawrence suspects to be retried) were only applied to the armed forces in August. Williams is therefore hasty in writing off our efforts before we have really begun.

He states: “Ihat notes with little evidence of irony that it ‘realises this news will be difficult for the victims, their families and the soldiers concerned’.” We don’t underestimate the impact of all this on the victims. We are alive to the fact that, 10 years on, …read more