Mr Mousa left two orphans

Mr Mousa, 26, the son of an Iraqi police colonel, was one of a number of workers from the Haitham hotel detained by British soldiers in September 2003.

He was taken to the UK military base near Basra where it is alleged he was killed while in custody.

His 22-year-old wife had died of cancer shortly before, leaving their two sons, aged three and five, orphaned.

British troops surrounded the hotel in Basra after guns were discovered in a safe.

Mr Mousa's father, Col Daoud Mousa, last saw his son when he went to the hotel to pick him up. He says his son and half a dozen other hotel workers were on the floor with their hands behind their heads.

A British officer reassured him that it was a routine investigation that would only last a couple of hours, Col Mousa said.

But three days later a military policeman informed him his son had died in custody and said he would need to identify the body.

Col Mousa told a High Court hearing in December last year that he was "horrified" by the state of his son.

"I was asked to accompany them to identify the corpse. When I saw the corpse I burst into tears and I still cannot bear to think about what I saw.

"Every time I tell this story I break down."