AN Iraqi POW almost certainly died while being forcibly restrained by Royal Air Force (RAF) crew, a long-awaited official report into a mysterious 2003 Gulf war death has now concluded.

The findings contradict initial claims by the RAF that the prisoner was merely unconscious while in its custody and later died after it handed him over to US forces.

Sir George Newman, an ex-judge leading the government’s Iraq Fatality Investigations team, said: “In all probability he must have been so close to death while in the hands of BF [British Forces]” that a probe into his treatment should have been launched immediately by the military’s top brass.

Instead the dead man was buried in the desert by US forces without any post-mortem to determine the cause of death or even his real name.

Mr Newman described the handling of this case as a “disappointing failure” by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) “high command,” who took the brunt of his criticism.

The dead man, referred to as Tariq Sabri Mahmud, was captured by Australian special forces at a checkpoint in the Ramadi Desert just days after the statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad was toppled in April 2003.

RAF Chinook helicopters then arrived to transport Mr Mahmud and 62 other POWs to a US detention camp.

“The mission was ordered at short notice during the combat phase, at the height of hostilities, behind enemy lines and deep in enemy territory,” the report said.

RAF men “bagged and tagged” the POWs, and a sand bag was taped tightly over Mr Mahmud’s head in a banned practice known as hooding.

His hands were also cable tied together and he was made to lie face down in the floor of the helicopter, head to toe with other POWs.

At some point Mr Mahmud and another detainee tried to break free and were forcibly restrained by the RAF’s Airborne Reaction Force, who used “chopping” blows to “subdue” the pair to the extent that they became “motionless.”

A third prisoner, who was disabled, somehow lost his prosthetic limbs during the flight.

Upon landing the trio were transferred into a US Air Force (USAF) Humvee truck whose US crew soon realised Mr Mahmud was dead, and not just unconscious or “faking” as the RAF had told them.

Mr Newman said: “Even if the deceased was not dead on arrival it was only a matter of minutes before the USAF declared him dead.

“Plainly something had happened in the course of the handling of him [by the RAF] to require investigation.”

He went on to conclude: “I find it more likely than not that Mr Mahmud died whilst on the aircraft.”

The ex-High Court judge gathered testimony from troops involved in the botched operation which suggested that some of them knew Mr Mahmud had already died inside the helicopter, or simply did not care.

No attempt was made by the RAF to resuscitate Mr Mahmud and one soldier appeared to have “no particular interest in the suggestion someone had died.”

He said: “All I was interested in was getting a group of men moved from one point to another and I wanted a straight answer as to whether we had to move a dead body over to the Americans.”

Mr Newman said the troops’ actions were “marked throughout, by a high degree of pragmatism and having a dead body of a PW [prisoner] was no more significant than the logistical problem it posed to the mission.”

He considered exhuming the body in an attempt to properly identify him and his family members but ultimately decided this “would not be a proportionate or effective step.”

An MoD spokesperson told the Morning Star: “We are committed to continually improving our processes and several years ago reviewed and updated our detention and operational investigation policy.

“Armed forces personnel are now required to report any deaths within four hours, allowing for appropriate investigations to take place.”