Source:
BBCUK troops accused of unlawfully killing and ill-treating civilians in Iraq were governed by the European Convention on Human Rights, a court has ruled.
The decision by judges in Strasbourg came after relatives of six dead Iraqis took the UK government to court for breaches of their human rights.
A seventh person, held without charge for three years, also brought the case at the European Court of Human Rights.
The UK argues the convention does not apply to troops serving outside Europe.
Read more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14063823
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/uk/human-rights-ruling-on-iraq-troops-16020597.html(snip)
The landmark judgment overturns a House of Lords majority ruling four years ago that there was no UK human rights jurisdiction regarding the deaths or wrongful detention of six civilians whose relatives took their cases to court.
(snip)
The Strasbourg judgment effectively extends the remit of the convention, declaring: "Following the removal from power of the Ba'ath regime and until the accession of the Iraqi Interim Government, the UK (together with the US) assumed in Iraq the exercise of some of the public powers normally to be exercised by a sovereign government.
(snip)
"In the exceptional circumstances deriving from the UK's assumption of authority for the maintenance of security in South East Iraq from 1 May 2003 to 28 June 2004, the UK had jurisdiction under Article 1 (obligation to respect human rights) of the European Convention on Human Rights in respect of civilians killed during security operations carried out by UK soldiers in Basra."
The judgment also found the UK guilty of "a failure to conduct an independent and effective investigation into the deaths of the relatives of five of the six applicants, in violation of Article 2 (right to life) of the Convention."
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