BEATEN, BURNT, MADE TO DANCE LIKE JACKO; Iraq abuse inquiry Soldiers caught on film.

Byline: VICTORIA WARD

BRITISH troops beat and burnt Iraqi prisoners - and even made one dance like Michael Jackson, an inquiry heard yesterday.

A disturbing video was also shown in which hooded and bound Iraqis were screamed at with abuse and forced into painful stress positions.

The startling allegations emerged on the opening day of an inquiry into the death of one of the detainees Baha Mousa, 26, in Basra six years ago.

He sustained 93 separate injuries including fractured ribs and a broken nose while in the custody of the Preston-based Queen's Lancashire Regiment. Fellow inmates claimed they were urinated on and forced to lie face down over a hole filled with excrement. It was heard others had their hands burned with boiling water.

At one point in the video, they are heard whimpering as Corporal Donald Payne stands over one and yells: "Get up you f****** ape, now."

It is claimed the regiment used humiliating and banned abuse.

Gerard Elias QC, counsel to the inquiry, said: "The detainees were hooded with sandbags, placed in stress positions and subjected to shouting.

"One man says he was made to dance like Michael Jackson." The wide-ranging inquiry is also looking at the Army's use of condi-tionintechniques to "soften up" prisoners for interrogation.

These were supposed to have been banned 36 years ago.

Last year the MoD paid pounds 2.83million in compensation to the fami-lieof dad-of-two Mr Mousa and nine abused Iraqis.

Cpl Payne was dismissed from the Army and sentenced to one year in jail after admitting inhumanely treating civilians.

The inquiry in Central London continues today.regilies Inmates were hooded, put in stress positions and shouted at GERARD ELIAS QC

CAPTION(S):

DEATH Iraqi Baha Mousa, 26, before beating, right, and after, left BRUTAL A soldier screams abuse at an Iraqi prisoner TORMENT Hooded inmate with wrists bound in plastic PAIN Iraqi in stress position while another receives abuse