Brit troops in dock for conducting 'mock execution' of Iraqi boy

London/Baghdad, Dec.15 (ANI): An Iraqi boy who was beaten up at the age of 12 by British soldiers, has claimed that he was subjected to a mock execution.

In a case being prepared for the High Court, The Independent reports that lawyers for Bariq Abdul-Razzaq claim he was among a group of youths caught up in a demonstration in Basra who were dragged into a British Army compound and then kicked and punched for up to an hour.

After the beating, Bariq says he was handcuffed and forced to kneel facing a wall.

"I felt I was going to be executed ... I was thinking about my family and I asked a soldier next to me if I could borrow his phone so I could tell my family I was going to die," he was quoted, as saying.

He says one of the soldiers pulled out a knife and brought it across his neck in a cutting motion.

"I instantly froze thinking my neck was going to be cut and I would die. The soldier was laughing at me," Bariq said in a witness statement.

Bariq, who has instructed his lawyers to force the Government to open an independent inquiry into the incident, says that he was so badly injured from the beating that when he was eventually released six hours later he had to be carried home.

The assault was videoed by one of the soldiers, who gave the film to a Sunday tabloid, which reported on the incident in 2006.

Bariq says his experience has left him badly traumatised and unable to continue his education.

Despite deep depression, Bariq has tried to rebuild his life. A key part of this is his love of boxing and last year he was runner-up in the Iraqi national youth boxing championships.

Phil Shiner, the human rights lawyer representing Bariq, has written to the Ministry of Defence calling for a full and independent inquiry into the incident, which left a number of Iraqi civilians badly injured.

The Special Investigations Branch of the Royal Military Police investigated the incident and then referred the matter to the Army Prosecuting Authority.

On December 15, 2006 the APA issued a press release concluding that they would not be bringing prosecutions against any servicemen, claiming that there was insufficient evidence.

The case is one of 80 allegations of abuse that are being investigated by the Iraqi League. (ANI)