UK: Human rights 'apply to Iraqis who died in custody'

The European Convention on Human Rights does apply to the case of an Iraqi man who died while in the custody of British troops, the House of Lords ruled today.

The European Convention on Human Rights does apply to the case of an Iraqi man who died while in the custody of British troops, the UK's House of Lords ruled today.

However, the Law Lords threw out appeals involving five other Iraqis allegedly shot by British troops, ruling that human rights laws did not apply to their deaths.

Phil Shiner, the solicitor acting for the family of Baha Mousa, who died in Basra, welcomed today’s ruling upholding their appeal, adding: “This is a massive breakthrough in my clients’ efforts to secure accountability for deaths and torture in detention.”

Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti said that while the ruling only applied to the Mousa case, the immediate implication was that there must be a full independent inquiry whenever the detainees "suffer inhuman treatment, torture or death while detained in UK military establishments anywhere in the world".

She said: “There could now never be a British Guantanamo. The British will never be able to build a prison anywhere in the world and say it is a legal black hole."

Lawyers involved in the case for the Iraqis said the findings by the House of Lords were "historic".

They said the ruling in the case of Baha Mousa meant there must now be a full, independent and public inquiry into the facts of all cases in which Iraqis in British detention have been abused, tortured, killed or subjected to sexual or religious humiliation.

A spokesman for Public Interest Lawyers said: “The implications of this case are enormous.”

Phil Shiner, the solicitor acting for Colonel Daoud Mousa, Baha Mousa’s father, and for other Iraqis alleging they were abused and tortured by UK troops, said today: “This is a massive breakthrough in my clients’ efforts to secure accountability for deaths and torture in detention.”

In each case relatives of the six had applied for a judicial review at the High Court of the Defence Secretary's refusal to order an independent inquiry into the circumstances of the deaths and rejection of liability.

All six were chosen as test cases from a much larger number of claims to resolve which were covered by human rights laws in the UK.

To succeed, each had to prove that a public authority had acted unlawfully – in a way that was incompatible with the Convention.

The British government took the case to the House of Lords to appeal against the earlier findings that the case of Baha Mousa was covered by the Human Rights Act.

The relatives of the others were appealing against the findings that UK human rights laws did not apply in their cases.

Lord Bingham, who headed the panel of Law Lords, allowed the Secretary of State’s appeal and dismissed those of the relatives.

However, four other Law Lords agreed that Baha Mousa’s case was covered by human rights laws. His case will now go back to the High Court.

Baroness Hale, referring to Mr Mousa’s case, said: “It would be consistent with the purpose of the Act to give his father a remedy against the army in the courts of this country.”

She said she agreed that there was nothing in European law that meant that the other five Iraqis were within the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom when they met their deaths.

“None of this is, of course, to diminish the tragedy of those deaths or to belittle the suffering of the relatives.”

But she said the question was not whether they were entitled to sympathy but whether they had a remedy from the UK courts, and they did not.