Iraq hostage Peter Moore ‘not mistreated’

The video was released on a website called ‘Iraq Resistance’ and runs for 46 seconds.

It shows an unshaven Peter Moore in captivity, playing with a child, sitting on the floor watching TV, taking exercise, eating an orange and writing a letter.

The group which released the video describe themselves as the Leagues of the Righteous People of Iraq, the name most often applied to the hostage-takers.

The purpose of this publication, they say in an attached statement, is to contradict recent statements made by Peter Moore claiming that his captors used torture against him.

Hostage Peter Moore says he was ‘tortured’

This follows Peter Moore’s extended interview with Channel 4 News last Thursday in which, for the first time on television, he described in detail how the hostage-takers performed mock executions on him and how they used to leave him “screaming in pain” after suspending him over the tops of doors with his hands handcuffed behind his back.

He also described how they used to smash him over the head with a gun and stick pins into him.

In the statement, the League of Righteous, a shia militia with strong links to Iran, claimed: “We affirm our commitment to divine Islamic commands requiring the good treatment of prisoners.

“We deny the lies which occurred in the statement broadcast in the media, affirming that good treatment was our consistent behaviour in respect of the British prisoner throughout his presence in the custody of the Resistance and until he was handed over to the Iraqi government.”

Peter Moore, who was one of five Britons abducted in Baghdad on 29 May 2007, does not wish to retract any of his account detailing his treatment in captivity.

Responding to the video, Mr Moore said it only reflected the final part of his time in captivity.

“The treatment in 2007 and 2008 was not like this,” he said.

“You won’t get any film like this from those years. You’ll only get this from 2009, because obviously we were being treated pretty harshly.

“The video you got of me with a beard, I’m actually shackled to a grille in the wall while doing that video.”

In a previous interview with Channel 4 News, recorded in Lincoln at the end of January, Peter Moore made it clear that, although his treatment was vastly improved in the latter months of his captivity (he was even given a Playstation), there were repeated incidents of beatings and mock executions during his first year held hostage.

He was held hostage for two years, seven months and one day.

This extraordinary propaganda initiative, aimed at bolstering this militia’s attempts to present an image of an armed force respectful of its captives’ rights, will be viewed as a deeply cynical move coming from a group which has already killed at least three of Peter Moore’s fellow hostages.