British man recounts Iraqi torture

A British man who spent more than two years in an Iraqi jail has told the Guardian that he was abandoned by the British government and feared it would leave him to die. In his first interview since being released, Mohammed Hussein said the British Foreign Office failed to help him while he was tortured and abused. Hussein claims he endured beatings, threats to kill him and rape his wife, and attempts to pull his fingernails out unless he confessed to being a terrorist or a British spy. He arrived back in Britain this month after 27 months in custody. An Iraqi judge convicted Hussein in 2007 of terrorist activity after a 10-minute trial. He was freed last month after being granted a pardon by an Iraqi appeal court. Campaigners and a Labour MP have criticised the government, which refused to help until late last year, leaving him at the mercy of the Iraqi judicial system which Amnesty International says is known to be deeply flawed. Hussein, 31, was granted asylum in Britain in 2000 after fleeing persecution by the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. He set up his own hair salon in Birmingham, married in 2003, and had a son in 2005. He said his nightmare began in 2007 when he went to Iraq to bring his severely ill mother to Britain for life-saving medical treatment. The unrest in Iraq had left his family homeless and they had moved to Najaf, in central Iraq. There, Hussein and his family got caught up in the middle of a battle between Iraqi government forces and members of a Shia cult called the Soldiers of Heaven. In January 2007 Iraqi forces killed more than 250 people after a battle outside Najaf against alleged members of the Soldiers of Heaven. Hussein's sister and mother were among those who died. Hussein was among hundreds detained after the clashes and accused of being part of the Soldiers of Heaven sect. He denied any terrorist involvement, but was arrested. He said he was tortured for 45 days continuously while accused of being a supporter of a former Iraqi prime minister, a funder of terrorism, a member of the Soldiers of Heaven cult, and even of being a British spy. He said he signed a false confession after a loaded gun was put to his head, the firing mechanism was cocked, and he was made to say the Muslim prayer Shahada, which is said before death. "I confessed because I was being tortured. I thought they would torture me to death." He was one of hundreds of defendants convicted of being in an area where terrorists were operating. He said his lawyer was not allowed to speak in court and he was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment. He was detained with his wife, Ebtihal Hussein, and his two-year-old son. She was detained for two months, and contacted her local MP, Lynne Jones, after her release. In October 2007, the then Foreign Office minister Kim Howells said Britain would not intervene. In a letter seen by the Guardian, he wrote: "Following his appeal, should Mr Hussein's lawyer advise us that his client's trial did not follow normal Iraqi criminal procedure, we would of course then consider making any appropriate representations to the Iraqi authorities." Jago Russell of Fair Trials International said: "It should not have taken pressure from us to make the Foreign Office help a Briton who was enduring a nightmare." Jones, Labour MP for Birmingham Selly Oak, criticised the government's handling of the case: "The Foreign Office failed him for nearly two years. They did not use their influence in order to ensure he was released as quickly as possible." Meanwhile, Hussein was stuck with four other men in a prison cell measuring barely two metres by two metres. He became ill and says his ordeal has left him in pain and unable to work. One possible explanation for the zeal of the Iraqi authorities is that his brother-in-law is a leader of an insurgent group. However, Mrs Hussein said he had very little contact with his brother-in-law.